And he said, They [were] my brethren, [even] the sons of my mother: [as] the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.
Ver. 19. I would not slay you.] As now I must, both as an avenger of blood Num 25:7-8 and as a magistrate; for Bonis nocet qui malis parcit, to restrain justice is to support sin: and not to correct, is to consent to the crime.