And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
Ver. 20. Fear not,] i.e., Despair not, cast not away your confidence: they that go down into this pit cannot hope for God's truth. Isa 38:18 It is a kind of taking away the Almighty, to limit his boundless mercy; despair is a high point of atheism.
Yet turn not aside.] As the devil, that old manslayer, would have it, tempting you first to presume, and then to despair: "whom resist steadfast in the faith."