We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.
Parallel translations
- WEB We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.
- KJV We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
- NKJV We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness And the iniquity of our fathers, For we have sinned against You.
- NASB We know our wickedness, Lord, The wrongdoing of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
- NLT Lord, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people confess their own wickedness and the iniquity of their fathers, acknowledging they have sinned against God. Genuine confession owns both personal and inherited guilt before the LORD.
Overview
This corporate confession does not excuse sin but openly admits guilt across generations. Such honest acknowledgment is the necessary turning point toward mercy, as Scripture teaches that confession opens the way to forgiveness (1 John 1:9). It anticipates the gospel call to repentance, where sinners who confess find cleansing through the blood of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 32:5Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
- Jer 3:25Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
- 1 Jn 1:7–9But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- Luke 15:18–21I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
- Ps 51:3–4For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
- Dan 9:5–8we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.
- Lev 26:40–42But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- Ps 106:6–48We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
- Jer 3:13Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’” declares the LORD.
- Ezra 9:6–7and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
- Job 33:27Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
- Neh 9:2Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
- 2 Sam 12:13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.
- 2 Sam 24:10After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 14:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.