Then David felt ashamed after he had counted the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I did! Lord, I beg you, forgive me for my sin. I have been very foolish.”
Then that person will confess to people.\par He will say,\par ‘I sinned.\par I changed good into bad.\par But God didn’t give me\par the punishment I deserved!\par
But your ancestors cried to the Lord for help. They said, ‘We have sinned. We left the Lord, and we served the false gods Baal [115] and Ashtoreth. [116] But now save us from our enemies, and we will serve you.’
The Israelites met together at Mizpah. They got water and poured it out before the Lord. {In this way, they began a time of fasting.} They did not eat any food that day and they confessed their sins. They said, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel served as a judge [86] of Israel at Mizpah.