not ... for your sakes - that is, not for any merit in you; for, on the contrary, on your part, there is everything to call down continued severity (compare Deu 9:5, Deu 9:6). The sole and sure ground of hope was God’s regard to “His own name,” as the God of covenant grace (Psa 106:45), which He must vindicate from the dishonor brought on it by the Jews, before the heathen.