‘And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” '
We are now specifically informed that we have only been given the gist of Peter's message. He spoke many other things, testifying to them and exhorting them, and the continual heart of his plea was that they would save themselves from the twisted and ‘crooked generation' among whom they found themselves. The Israelites who wandered in the wilderness were also described as a "crooked generation", and they by their crookedness had lost God's favour (Deuteronomy 32:5; Psalms 78:8). Peter thus saw the present generation of Jews as also ‘lost in the wilderness' and missing out on what God had promised.