We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.
- BSB We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.
- 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 32:5I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
- Jer 3:25We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and 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 one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
- Luke 15:18–21I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
- Ps 51:3–4For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
- Dan 9:5–8We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
- Lev 26:40–42If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
- Ps 106:6–48We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
- Jer 3:13Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
- Ezra 9:6–7And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
- Job 33:27He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;
- Neh 9:2And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
- 2 Sam 12:13And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
- 2 Sam 24:10And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.