Once you were “not a people,” but now you are “God’s people.” You were shown “no mercy,” but now you have been shown “mercy.”
So You established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your very own people forever, and You, Adonai, have become their God.
So it will be in that day, I will respond —it is a declaration of adonai— I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth,
But I say, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, with a nation empty of understanding I will vex you.”
For just as you once were disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,
Now concerning virgins I have no command from the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. Yet I was shown mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,
Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need.