Jeremiah 2:22

Jeremiah 2:22 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God.
• New International Version (NIV)Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.

Context of Jeremiah 2:22

20“For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience] And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you]; You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’ For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute. 21Yet I had planted you [O house of Israel as] a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned against Me Into degenerate shoots of a foreign and wild vine [alien to Me]? For though you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your guilt is [still] before Me [and you are soiled and dirty],” says the Lord God. 23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after [man-made gods like] the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; Know [without any doubt] what you have done! You are a swift and restless young [female] camel [in the heat of her passion] running here and there, 24Or [you have the untamed and reckless nature of] a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion [for the scent of a mate]. In her mating season who can restrain her? No males seeking her need to weary themselves; In her month they will find her [looking for them].

Jeremiah 2:22 word by word

כִּ֤י אִם־תְּכַבְּסִי֙ בַּנֶּ֔תֶר וְתַרְבִּי־לָ֖ךְ בֹּרִ֑ית נִכְתָּ֤ם עֲוֹנֵךְ֙ לְפָנַ֔י נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהוִֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For though thou washכָּבַסkâbas · to washH3526
• thee with nitreנֶ֫תֶרnether · natronH5427
• and take thee muchרָבָהrâbâh · to multiplyH7235
• soapבֹּרִיתbôrîyth · lyeH1287
• thine iniquityעָוֺן‛âvôn ‛âvôn · iniquity: guiltH5771
• is markedכָּתַםkâtham · be stainedH3799
• beforeפָּנֶהpânîym · face: beforeH6440
• me, saithנְאֻםne'ûm · utteranceH5002
• the Lordאֲדֹנָי'ădônây · LordH136
• Godיְהֹוִהyehôvih · YHWH/GodH3069

Cross-references for Jeremiah 2:22

• Job 9:30If I were to wash myself with snow And cleanse my hands with lye,
• Jeremiah 16:17For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wickedness concealed from My eyes.
• Jeremiah 17:1The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars.
• Deuteronomy 32:34‘Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries?
• Job 14:17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my wickedness [from Your view].
• Psalms 90:8You have placed our wickedness before you, Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence.
• Psalms 130:3If You, Lord, should keep an account of our sins and treat us accordingly, O Lord, who could stand [before you in judgment and claim innocence]?
• Hosea 13:12The wickedness of Ephraim [which is not yet completely punished] is bound up [as in a bag]; His sin is stored up [for judgment and destruction].
• Amos 8:7The Lord has sworn [an oath] by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I shall never forget [nor leave unpunished] any of their [rebellious] acts.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 2:22

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 22For though thou wash thee with nitre - It should be rendered natar or natron, a substance totally different from our nitre. It comes from the root נתר nathar, to dissolve, loosen, because a solution of it in water is abstersive, taking out spots, etc., from clothes. It is still used in the east for the purpose of washing. If vinegar be poured on it, Dr. Shaw says, a strong effervescence is the immediate consequence, which illustrates Proverbs 25:20…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 22Nitre - Or, natron, a mineral alkali, found in the Nile valley, where it effloresces upon the rocks and surfaces of the dykes, and in old time was carefully collected, and used to make lye for washing (see Proverbs 25:20). Sope - A vegetable alkali, now called “potash,” because obtained from the ashes of plants. Its combination with oils, etc., to form soap was not known to the Hebrews until long after Jeremiah‘s time, but they used the lye, formed by…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-28Verses 20-28 Notwithstanding all their advantages, Israel had become like the wild vine that bears poisonous fruit. Men are often as much under the power of their unbridled desires and their sinful lusts, as the brute beasts. But the Lord here warns them not to weary themselves in pursuits which could only bring distress and misery. As we must not despair of the mercy of God, but believe that to be sufficient for the pardon of our sins, so neither must we…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 22The metaphor shifts from a planted vine to a dirty cloth that soap or lye cannot clean. No matter how hard the Israelites scrubbed, their guilt remained visible (compare Isaiah 1:18).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2222. nitre--not what is now so called, namely, saltpeter; but the natron of Egypt, a mineral alkali, an incrustation at the bottom of the lakes, after the summer heat has evaporated the water: used for washing (compare Job 9:30; Pr 25:20). soap--potash, the carbonate of which is obtained impure from burning different plants, especially the kali of Egypt and Arabia. Mixed with oil it was used for washing. marked--deeply ingrained, indelibly marked; the…Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 2:22

• Church
• Confidence
• Depravity of Man
• Nitre
• Self-Righteousness
• Sin
• Soap
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Attire
• Bitter
• Cry
• Degenerate
• Handle
• Hold
• Holiness
• Nitre

Commentaries on Jeremiah 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings