English Standard Version
Jeremiah 2:22
22Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!
Context of Jeremiah 2:22
20"For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore. 21Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God. 23How can you say, 'I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done— a restless young camel running here and there, 24a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her.
Read all of Jeremiah 2Jeremiah 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 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 me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
- Jeremiah 17:1"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars,
- Deuteronomy 32:34"'Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?
- Job 14:17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
- Psalms 90:8You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
- Psalms 130:3If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
- Hosea 13:12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is kept in store.
- Amos 8:7The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
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
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries