They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
". . . the emphatic declaration, ’I will deliver you no more,’ is to be understood conditionally, in case their idols were kept among them; for the divine threatenings always imply a reserve of mercy to the truly repentant." [Note: Bush, p. 140. Cf. Jeremiah 18:5-12; Jonah 3:4.] 