Jeremiah 2:22

The NET Bible®

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 .

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Even if you wash with lyeand use a great amount of bleach,the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me.

Hebrew Names Version
For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord GOD.

King James Version
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God .

English Standard Version
Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God .

New American Standard Bible
"Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your guilt is before Me," declares the Lord GOD.

New Century Version
Although you wash yourself with cleanser and use much soap, I can still see the stain of your guilt," says the Lord God .

Amplified Bible
"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.

World English Bible
For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord Yahweh.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquitie is marked before me, sayeth the Lord God.

Legacy Standard Bible
Although you wash yourself with lyeAnd use much soap,The stain of your iniquity is before Me," declares Lord Yahweh.

Berean Standard Bible
Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me," declares the Lord GOD.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord said: People of Israel, you are stained with guilt, and no soap or bleach can wash it away.

Complete Jewish Bible
Even if you scrub yourself with soda and plenty of soap, the stain of your guilt is still there before me," says Adonai Elohim .

Darby Translation
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much potash, thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Easy-to-Read Version
Even if you wash yourself with lye, even if you use much soap, I can still see your guilt." This message is from the Lord God .

George Lamsa Translation
For though you wash yourself with nitre and use much sulphur, yet your sins within you are marked before me, says the LORD God.

Good News Translation
Even if you washed with the strongest soap, I would still see the stain of your guilt.

Lexham English Bible
For if you wash with natron, and you use much soap, your guilt is sticking as a stain before me," declares the Lord Yahweh.

Literal Translation
Though you wash yourself with potash, and multiply soap for yourself, your iniquity is stained before Me, declares the Lord Jehovah.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yee and that so sore: that though thou wasshest the with Nitrus & makest thiself to sauoure with that swete smellinge herbe of Borith: yet in my sight thou art stayned with thy wickednesse, saieth the LORDE thy God.

American Standard Version
For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Bible in Basic English
For even if you are washed with soda and take much soap, still your evil-doing is marked before me, says the Lord God.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord GOD.

King James Version (1611)
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquitie is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
[Yea and that so sore] that though thou washe thee with Nitrus, and make thy selfe to sauour with that sweete smellyng hearbe of Borith: yet in my sight thou art stayned with thy wickednesse, saith the Lorde thy God.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Though thou shouldest wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself soap, still thou art stained by thine iniquities before me, saith the Lord.

English Revised Version
For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thouy thou waischist thee with fulleris clei, and multypliest to thee the erbe borith, thou art defoulid in thi wickidnesse bifore me, seith the Lord God.

Update Bible Version
For though you wash yourself with lye, and take yourself much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord Yahweh.

Webster's Bible Translation
For though thou shalt wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, [yet] thy iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

New King James Version
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
No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I, the Sovereign Lord , have spoken!

New Life Bible
Even when you wash yourself with much strong soap, the mark of your sin is still before Me," says the Lord God.

New Revised Standard
Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord God .

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For though thou wash thee with nitre, And take thee much soap, Yet is thine iniquity inscribed before me Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Though thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the herb borith, thou art stained in thy iniquity before me, saith the Lord God.

Revised Standard Version
Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord GOD.

Young's Literal Translation
But though thou dost wash with nitre, And dost multiply to thyself soap, Marked is thine iniquity before Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me," declares the Lord GOD.

Contextual Overview

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. ²¹ I 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? ²² 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. ²⁴ You 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. ²⁵ Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue them!' ²⁶ Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught, so the people of Israel will suffer dishonor for what they have done. So will their kings and officials, their priests and their prophets. ²⁷ They say to a wooden idol, ‘You are my father.' They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.' Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!' ²⁸ But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them save you when you are in trouble. The sad fact is that you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For though: Job 9:30, Job 9:31

yet thine iniquity: Jeremiah 16:17, Jeremiah 17:1, Deuteronomy 32:34, Job 14:17, Psalms 90:8, Psalms 130:3, Hosea 13:12, Amos 8:7

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:6 - wash their hands 1 Samuel 15:14 - What meaneth 2 Samuel 11:12 - General 2 Samuel 14:32 - if there Psalms 109:15 - before Proverbs 16:2 - the ways Proverbs 28:13 - that Proverbs 30:12 - that are Jeremiah 13:23 - Ethiopian Malachi 1:6 - And ye Malachi 2:11 - profaned Malachi 3:2 - like fullers' 1 John 1:8 - say

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.

Genesis 2:9
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

Genesis 2:19
The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Psalms 127:1

A song of ascents, by Solomon.

If the Lord does not build a house, then those who build it work in vain. If the Lord does not guard a city, then the watchman stands guard in vain.

Proverbs 18:22
The one who finds a wife finds what is enjoyable, and receives a pleasurable gift from the Lord .

Proverbs 19:14
A house and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord .

1 Timothy 2:13
For Adam was formed first and then Eve.

Hebrews 13:4
Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For though thou wash thee with nitre,.... The word נתר, "nitre", is only used in this place and in Proverbs 25:20 and it is hard to say what it is. Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, that some say it is what is called "alum"; and others that it is a dust with which they wash the head, and cleanse everything; and so Jarchi says it is a kind of earth used in cleaning garments; and "nitre" is mentioned by the Misnic doctors s among those things which are used for the washing of garments, and taking spots out of them; though about what it is they are not agreed; and it seems the nitre of the ancients is unknown to us t; and saltpetre is put in the room of it; and some render the word here "saltpetre"; and Pliny u observes, that nitre does not much differ from salt, and ascribes to it a virtue of eating out filth, and removing it; so Aristotle w reports of the lake Ascania; that its water is of such a nitrous quality, that garments, being put into it, need no other washing. Nitre has its name from נתר, "to loose", because it looses the filth, and cleanses from it:

and take thee much soap. The Septuagint render it, "herb"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "the herb borith"; which is the Hebrew word here used; and about the sense of which there is some difficulty. Kimchi and Ben Melech say some take it to be the same with what is called "soap"; so Jarchi; and others, that it is an herb with which they wash, the same that is called fullers' herb; but whether it is soap, or fullers' herb, or fullers' earth, as others, it is certain it is something fullers used in cleaning garments, as appear from Malachi 3:2, where the same word is used, and fullers made mention of as using what is signified by it. It has its name from ברה, which signifies to "cleanse" and "purify". The sense is, let this backsliding and degenerate people take what methods they will to cleanse themselves from their sins, as by their ceremonial ablutions and sacrifices, which was the usual method they had recourse to, to purify themselves, and in which they rested:

yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God; or, "will retain its spots" x these remain; the filth is not washed away; the iniquity is not hid and covered; it appears very plain and manifest;

yea, shines like gold; or, "is gilded" y; as the word used signifies. It is of too deep a die to be removed by such external things; nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse from sin, take away its filth, removes its guilt, and cover it out of the sight of God, so that it can be seen no more. The Targum is,

"for if you think to be cleansed from your sins, as they cleanse with nitre, or make white with "borith", or soap; lo, as the mark of a spot which is not clean, so are your sins multiplied before me, saith the Lord God.''

s Misn. Sabbat, c. 9. sect. 5. Nidda, c. 9. sect. 6. Maimon & Bartenora in ib. & in Misn. Celim, c. 10. sect. 1. t Schroder. Pharmacopoeia, l. 3. c. 23. p. 140. u Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 10. w Opera, vol. 1, de Mirabil. p. 705. x "Maculas tamen retinebit iniquitas tua", Schmidt. y נכתם "nitet, [vel splendet], instar anri", Piscator "obducat se auro insigni", Junius Tremellius so Gussetius renders the word, "inaurari, auro ebduci" and who rightly observes, that whatever is glided, or covered with gold, the more it is washed with nitre, or soap, the brighter it will appear; and so, whatever other methods are taken to wash away sin, but seeking for justification by the grace of God in Christ, it will be but the more manifest, Ebr. Comment. p. 410.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Nitre - 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 passing water through the ashes. Thus then, though Israel use both mineral and vegetable alkalies, the most powerful detergents known, yet will she be unable to wash away the stains of her apostasy.

Thine iniquity is marked - i. e., as a stain.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 2:22. For 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, c., 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: "The singing of songs to a heavy heart is like vinegar upon natron" that is, there is no affinity between them; opposition and strife are occasioned by any attempt to unite them.

Thine iniquity is marked before me — No washing will take out thy spots; the marks of thy idolatry and corruption are too deeply rooted to be extracted by any human means.