<t /><p class="poetry">The punishment<n id="1" /> of Ephraim has been decreed;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">his punishment is being stored up for the future.p>

<p class="poetry">For I would have committed<n id="1" /> a shameful act,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">an iniquity to be judged.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">then this<n id="1" /> also would be iniquity to be judged,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">for I would have been false<n id="3" /> to God above.p>

<p class="poetry">Why should I be afraid in times of trouble,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when the sinful deeds of deceptive men threaten to overwhelm me?<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Though I have done nothing wrong,<n id="1" /> they are anxious to attack.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Spring into action and help me! Take notice of me!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Hold them accountable for all their sins!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not vindicate them!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">You pardoned<n id="1" /> the wrongdoing of your people;p> <p class="poetry">you forgave<n id="2" /> all their sin. (Selah)p>

<p class="poetry">Through loyal love and truth<n id="1" /> iniquity is appeased;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">through fearing the <sc>Lordsc><n id="3" /> one avoids<n id="4" /> evil.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry"><sc>Lordsc>, we confess that we have been wicked.p> <p class="poetry">We confess that our ancestors have done wrong.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">We have indeed<n id="2" /> sinned against you.p>

In the fourth generation<n id="1" /> your descendants<n id="2" /> will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

and so cause them to incur a penalty for guilt<n id="1" /> when they eat their holy offerings,<n id="2" /> for I am the <sc>Lordsc> who sanctifies them.&#8217;&#8221;p>

So Saul was keeping an eye on David from that day onward.p>

But Saul swore an oath to her by the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, you will not incur guilt in this matter!&#8221;

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">&#8216;I am pure, without transgression;p> <p class="poetry">I am clean<n id="2" /> and have no iniquity.p>

<p class="poetry">How blessed is the one<n id="1" /> whose wrongdoing the <sc>Lordsc> does not punish,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">in whose spirit there is no deceit.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">May his ancestors&#8217;<n id="1" /> sins be remembered by the <sc>Lordsc>!p> <p class="poetry">May his mother&#8217;s sin not be forgotten!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">No resident of Zion<n id="1" /> will say, &#8220;I am ill&#8221;;p> <p class="poetry">the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.p>

<p class="poetry">All of us had wandered off like sheep;p> <p class="poetry">each of us had strayed off on his own path,p> <p class="poetry">but the <sc>Lordsc> caused the sin of all of us to attack him.<n id="1" />p>

keeping loyal love for thousands,<n id="1" /> forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression<n id="2" /> of fathers by dealing with children and children&#8217;s children, to the third and fourth generation.&#8221;p>

&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love,<n id="1" /> forgiving iniquity and transgression,<n id="2" /> but by no means clearing<n id="3" /> the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.&#8217;<n id="4" />