David felt ashamed after he had counted the people and 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.”
Samuel said, “You did a foolish thing. You did not obey the Lord your God. If you had done what he commanded, the Lord would have let your family rule Israel forever.
But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done.
The eyes of the Lord go around looking in all the earth for people who are faithful to him so that he can make them strong. Asa, you did a foolish thing. So from now on you will have wars.”
Then David said to God, “I have done something very foolish. I have committed a terrible sin by counting the Israelites. Now, I beg you to take the sin away from me, your servant.”
In the past we were foolish too. We did not obey, we were wrong, and we were slaves to the many things our bodies wanted and enjoyed. We lived doing evil and being jealous. People hated us and we hated each other.
When they heard this, they began to leave one by one. The older men left first, and then the others. Jesus was left alone with the woman standing there in front of him.
adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living.
Think about what you will say, and come back to the Lord. Say to him, “Take away our sin, and accept these words as our sacrifice. We offer you the praise from our lips.
Why don’t you just pardon me for doing wrong? Why don’t you just forgive me for my sins? Soon I will die and be in my grave. You will search for me, but I will be gone.”
But Hezekiah and the people living in Jerusalem changed their hearts and lives. They became humble and stopped being proud. So the Lord’s anger didn’t come on them while Hezekiah was alive.
Then Saul said, “David, my son! I have sinned. Come back. Today you showed me that my life is important to you, so I won’t try to hurt you. I have acted foolishly. I have made a big mistake.”
Is this the way you repay the Lord for all he has done for you? You are stupid, foolish people. He is your Father and your Creator. He made you, and he supports you.
When he saw the angel who killed the people, David spoke to the Lord. David said, “I sinned! I did wrong! And these people only did what I told them—they only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong. Please let your punishment be against me and my father’s family.”
“Sometimes they will sin against you, and you will stop the rain from falling on their land. Then they will pray toward this place and praise your name. You make them suffer, and they will be sorry for their sins.
He said to his men, “I pray the Lord never lets me do anything like that to my master again. I must not do anything against Saul, because he is the Lord’s chosen king.”