New English Translation
Jeremiah 2:22
22You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent. You can use as much soap as you want. But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” says 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.
- 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“Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 21I planted you in the land like a special vine of the very best stock. Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes? You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent. You can use as much soap as you want. But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” says the Lord God. 23“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. 24You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness. In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. No one can hold her back when she is in heat. None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her. At mating time she is easy to find.
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 water, and make my hands clean with lye,
- Jeremiah 16:17For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it.
- Jeremiah 17:1The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel on their stone-hard hearts. It is inscribed with a diamond point on the horns of their altars.
- Deuteronomy 32:34“Is this not stored up with me?” says the Lord, “Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?
- Job 14:17My offenses would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sin.
- Psalms 90:8You are aware of our sins; you even know about our hidden sins.
- Psalms 130:3If you, O Lord, were to keep track of sins, O Lord, who could stand before you?
- Hosea 13:12The punishment of Ephraim has been decreed; his punishment is being stored up for the future.
- Amos 8:7The Lord confirms this oath by the arrogance of Jacob: “I swear I will never forget all you have done!
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
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