¹² The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

¹³ And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong,^[a] and he never tempts anyone else. ¹⁴ Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. ¹⁵ These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

³ For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.

²⁹ The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

²⁰ “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. ²¹ Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

²² But Samuel replied,

Saul Pleads for Forgiveness

²⁴ Then Saul admitted to Samuel, “Yes, I have sinned. I have disobeyed your instructions and the Lord’s command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded.

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

²¹ Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”

²² “Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. ²³ They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ ²⁴ So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”