2 Samuel 11:6

¹³He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁸He said, “What pledge will I give you?” She said, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. ²⁰Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he didn’t find her. ²¹Then he asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?” They said, “There has been no prostitute here.”

²²He returned to Judah, and said, “I haven’t found her; and also the men of the place said, ‘There has been no prostitute here.’” ²³Judah said, “Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this young goat, and you haven’t found her.”

⁷²Again he denied it with an oath, “I don’t know the man.”

³⁰Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all, saying, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

⁷⁴Then he began to curse and to swear, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately the rooster crowed.

¹²“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, ¹³though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth, ¹⁴yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.

¹³The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;

⁷If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”