1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ¹  and what you said as well. ²  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ³ 

1 Samuel 15:30

15:30 Saul ⁴  again replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God.”

1 Samuel 24:17

24:17 He said to David, “You are more innocent ⁵  than I, for you have treated me well, even though I have tried to harm you!

Exodus 9:27

9:27 So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time! ⁶  The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. ⁷ 

Numbers 22:34

22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. ⁸  So now, if it is evil in your sight, ⁹  I will go back home.” ¹⁰ 

Matthew 27:4

27:4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? You take care of it yourself!”

[15:24]  ¹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ² tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ³ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[15:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:17]  ⁵ tn Or “righteous” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “you are in the right”; NLT “are a better man than I am.”

[9:27]  ⁶ sn Pharaoh now is struck by the judgment and acknowledges that he is at fault. But the context shows that this penitence was short-lived. What exactly he meant by this confession is uncertain. On the surface his words seem to represent a recognition that he was in the wrong and Yahweh right.

[9:27]  ⁷ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) can mean “ungodly, wicked, guilty, criminal.” Pharaoh here is saying that Yahweh is right, and the Egyptians are not – so they are at fault, guilty. S. R. Driver says the words are used in their forensic sense (in the right or wrong standing legally) and not in the ethical sense of morally right and wrong (Exodus, 75).

[22:34]  ⁸ sn Balaam is not here making a general confession of sin. What he is admitting to is a procedural mistake. The basic meaning of the word is “to miss the mark.” He now knows he took the wrong way, i.e., in coming to curse Israel.

[22:34]  ⁹ sn The reference is to Balaam’s way. He is saying that if what he is doing is so perverse, so evil, he will turn around and go home. Of course, it did not appear that he had much of a chance of going forward.

[22:34]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].