²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned.^(A) I violated^(B) the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid^(C) of the men and so I gave in to them.

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned^(A) against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away^(B) your sin.^(C) You are not going to die.^(D)

³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned.^(A) I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars^(A)—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.^(B) This is the second death.”^(C)

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people?^(A) If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

² “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice^(A) by siding with the crowd,^(B)

²⁰ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”^(A)

²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.