And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, we have sinned,
 &c.] By serving other gods particularly; and they seemed to have a true sense of their sin, and their confessions of it to be ingenuous, by what follows: 
 do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee;
 inflict what punishment he would upon them, as famine or pestilence, they could not but own it would be just and righteous, and what their sins deserved: 
 deliver us only, we pray thee, this day;
 out of the hands of men; they chose rather to fall into the hands of God; and however he thought fit to deal with them, they entreated that this once he would save them out of the hands of their enemies.