For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
Parallel translations
- WEB For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- BSB Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.
- NKJV For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.
- NASB “Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your guilt is before Me,” declares the Lord God.
- 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!
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
No amount of washing can remove Israel's guilt before God. Sin's stain is too deep for self-cleansing.
Overview
Yahweh says that though they scrub with lye and soap, their iniquity remains marked before Him. Outward efforts cannot erase the inward guilt that God sees plainly. This drives home humanity's inability to cleanse itself, a need answered only by the blood of Christ that truly washes sin away.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 17:1The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
- Hos 13:12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
- Job 14:17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
- Ps 90:8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
- Jer 16:17For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
- Ps 130:3If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
- Job 9:30–31If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
- Amos 8:7The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
- Deut 32:34Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
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 2:22 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.