For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Parallel translations
- KJV For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
- 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.
- ESV Though you wash yourself with lye and use much 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 quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 17:1“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
- Hos 13:12The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up.
- Job 14:17My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
- Ps 90:8You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
- Jer 16:17For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
- Ps 130:3If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
- Job 9:30–31If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
- Amos 8:7Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
- Deut 32:34“Isn’t this laid up in store with me, 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.