²² They fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?”^(A)

¹⁶ “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation^(A)

Jerusalem’s Victory

12 An Oracle.

The word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within:^(A)

⁹ Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

⁷ and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath^[a] returns to God who gave it.^(A)

²³ Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?^{(A) 24} Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it?^{(B) 25} Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”^(C)

¹⁸ Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.

¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, “I alone have sinned, and I, the shepherd, have done evil,^[a] but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”^(A)