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.

“So also God is introduced by the prophet as saying to the person who had become evil by his own choice, "Yet I had planted you a fruitful vine. How have you turned back into a wild vine?" Anywhere it is said that evils happen to the wicked from God, it must be understood as an accidental coincidence of name. This name is given to the chastisements that God in his goodness is said to send not for the hurt of those who are chastised but for their benefit and profit, in the same way that a physician might be thought to apply bad things in his painful and bitter remedies to save the sick.”

“Sin is a terrible thing, and the most grievous disease of the soul is iniquity, which corrupts the fiber of the soul and makes it liable to eternal fire. It is an evil freely chosen, the product of the will. The prophet clearly declares that we sin of our own free will: "I had planted you, a choice vine of fully tested stock; how could you turn into bitterness, a spurious vine?" The planting was good, but the fruit coming from the will is evil. So the planter is blameless, but the vine will burn with fire since it was planted for good and bore evil fruit of its own will.”

“Yet if the husband's power allures you, pray tell me who it was that spoke in the prophet, saying, "O Lord, make it known to me that I may know. Then I saw their thoughts. I was led as a harmless lamb to the slaughter and knew it not. They took counsel together against me, saying, Come, let us throw wood into his bread." For if the Son here spoke of the mystery of his coming incarnation—because it was blasphemous to suppose that the words are spoken concerning the Father—then surely it is the Son who speaks in an earlier passage: "I have planted you as a fruitful vine—how did you become bitter, and a wild vine?"”

“Hence God gave the gift of prayer. But he does this, even though he does not need for us to ask, but that we might not grow indifferent from being saved without effort. For this reason, he said to Jeremiah, "Do not pray for this people, for I will not hear you," not wishing to stop his praying (for he earnestly longs for our salvation) but to terrify them. Seeing this, the prophet did not stop praying. So that you may see that God did not wish to turn Jeremiah from it, but to shame them that he said this, hear what it says. "Don't you see what they are doing?" Also when he says to the city, "Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me," it is not that he may cast them into despair that he so speaks, but that he may rouse them to repentance.”

“with natron A type of earth with which garments are cleansed and rubbed. soap Heb. בֹּרִית, cleanliness. Comp. “And pure (וּבַר) of heart” (Ps. 24:4). Some explain בֹּרִית as savon in French, soap. your iniquity is stained Jon. renders: Like the mark of a stain that is unclean, so have your sins increased before Me. כתם is tka in O.F. your iniquity This is said concerning the iniquity of the ‘Golden Calf,’ which remains in existence forever, as it is stated: “And on the day of My visitation, I will visit upon them their sin” (Exodus 32:34). All visitations that come upon Israel have part of the iniquity of the Golden Calf in them.”

“Here he removes the excuse: and first, the excuse they might have had by alleging the negligence of the cultivator: against which, I planted you, a chosen one, from chosen fathers. Isa. 5: "A vineyard was made for my beloved on a horn, a son of oil," etc. Second, the excuse they might have had by denying guilt, at "if you wash yourself." And first he convicts them of guilt against God; second, of guilt against neighbor, at "why do you strive to show your way good?" Concerning the first, two points. First he convicts them of guilt, showing the impossibility of denial. Nitre, which, condensed by the heat of the sun, like salt, washes away filth; berith, a certain herb for washing away filth: and it is a manner of speaking, as if he were to say: all the water of the river would not make you clean, that is, there is no excuse or purgation for you. Prov. 30: "a generation that seems clean to itself, and yet is not washed from its filth." How do you say: I am not polluted? Prov. 20: "who can say: my heart is clean, I am pure from sin?" And he sets forth the purgation of guilt, proposing two circumstances. First, the place: see the ways, the works, in the valley, of the sons of Ennon, where they worshipped idols. This place is watered by the springs of Siloe, and there was the shrine of Baal, according to the Gloss. Below, 31: "direct your heart into the right way in which you walked." And he sets forth the manner of the sin as regards the eagerness for sinning. A swift runner, as one unencumbered for sinning. Prov. 1: "their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed blood." As regards the fervor of concupiscence: a wild ass in desire, namely of coitus, drew in the wind, by which it perceives the scent of its female, the love of the thing loved. Below, 14: "wild asses stood on the rocks, they drew in the wind like dragons." As regards strong adherence, none shall turn her away, by removing her. And as regards the readiness for sinning, all who seek her: as if he were speaking of a harlot, who even at the time of her menses shows herself to her lovers. Ezech. 16: "you opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied all your fornications." Second, he convicts them of hardness of mind: and first, because they are not called back by warnings; second, because they are not corrected by scourges, at "why do you wish to contend with me in judgment?" Third, because they are not bent by benefits, at "see the word of the Lord." Concerning the first, three points. First he sets forth the admonition, forbid: as if he were to say: cease from sins, for which, barefoot and thirsting, you are led into captivity, as Isa. 20: "as my servant Isaiah walked naked and unshod, so shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the captivity of Egypt, and the migration of Ethiopia, of young men and old, naked and unshod, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt." Second, he shows the rebellion of the people: and you said, I have despaired, I will not do it. Strangers: idols. Below, 18: "they said: we have despaired, we will walk after our own thoughts, and each of us will do the wickedness of his evil heart." Third, he threatens confusion: and first he sets forth a likeness of the confusion: as a thief is confounded when he is caught, so they are confounded, caught in their punishments; wood: a wooden idol; father: God. Ps. 96: "let all be confounded who worship graven images, and who glory in their idols." Isa. 1: "they shall be confounded by their idols." Second, he expounds the order of the confusion, first setting forth the withdrawal of the divine help, they have turned, as being disobedient. Zach. 7: "they turned away the shoulder, withdrawing, and made their ears heavy, lest they should hear the law." In the time of affliction. Osee 6: "in their tribulation they will rise early to me." Come, and let us return to the Lord, etc. Second, he sets forth the uselessness of the idols. Where are the gods? Deut. 32: "where are their gods, in whom they have trust?" Third, the multitude of the idols: for according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Juda. Isa. 2: "his land is filled with horses, and his chariots are innumerable."”

“How canst thou say, I am not polluted,.... No man can say this; for all are defiled with sin; but this was the cast and complexion of these people in all ages; they were a generation of men that were pure in their own eyes, but were not cleansed from their filthiness; they fancied that their ceremonial washings and sacrifices cleansed them from moral impurities, when those only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; still their iniquity remained marked before the Lord; they acted the part of the adulterous woman in Pro 30:20 to whom they are compared in the context; and, therefore, as wondering at their impudence, they having a whore's forehead, this question is put, how and with what face they could affirm this, and what follows: I have not gone after Baalim? or, "the Baalim"; the idols of the people, as the Targum interprets it; for there were many Baals, as Baalzephon, Baalpeor, Baalzebub, and others: see thy way in the valley; where idols were set up and worshipped; or through which the way lay, as Kimchi observes, to the hills and mountains where idolatry was frequently committed; perhaps no particular valley is meant, but any in which idols were worshipped, or which they passed through to the worshipping of them; though the Targum interprets it of the valley in which they dwelt, over against Baalpeor, so Jarchi and Abarbinel, when they worshipped that idol; and seems to design the valley of Shittim, Num 25:1, but rather, if any particular valley is intended, the valley of Hinnom seems to bid fair for it; and to this it may be the Septuagint version has respect, rendering it , "in the sepulchre of the multitude"; multitudes being burnt and buried here: know what thou hast done; in the valley, especially in the valley of Hinnom, where they caused their children to pass through the fire to Molech: thou art a swift dromedary. The Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it a young camel; and so the word in the Arabic language signifies; and the epithet "swift" better agrees with that than with the dromedary. Curtius (z) makes mention of dromedary camels of great swiftness; but it may be this is to be understood, not of its swiftness in running, but of its impetuous lust, as Calvin observes; and, indeed, each of these creatures are very libidinous; and therefore these people are compared to them; See Gill on Mic 1:13, it follows: traversing her ways; running about here and there after the male, burning with lust, sometimes one way, and sometimes another; and so these people sometimes run after one idol, and sometimes another, and followed a multitude of them. The Targum renders it, "which corrupts or depraves her ways". De Dieu observes, that the word in the Ethiopic language, signifies "the evening"; and so may intend walking in the evening, in the dark, rather than in the light; which, as it is the way of dromedaries, and almost of all beasts, so of harlots, to whom these people are likened; and he further observes, that, in the Arabic language, it signifies to make common, which agrees with adulterous persons, as these were in a spiritual sense. The word is only used in this place, and is deduced from, or has some relation to, the word which signifies a "shoelatchet", Gen 14:23 as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; and may denote, as the shoe is bound and fastened with the latchet, the binding of her ways to her heart, as the former suggests, the strengthening and confirming of her in her evil ways, and her constant persisting therein; but the first sense of running here and there through lust is best; and is approved by Bynaeus (a) and by Buxtorf (b). (z) (Curtius) L. 5. c. 2. (a) De Calceis Heb. l. 1. c. 7. sect. 4. (b) Lex. Heb. rad.”

“nitre--not what is now so called, namely, saltpeter; but the natron of Egypt, a mineral alkali, an incrustation at the bottom of the lakes, after the summer heat has evaporated the water: used for washing (compare Job 9:30; Pro 25:20). soap--potash, the carbonate of which is obtained impure from burning different plants, especially the kali of Egypt and Arabia. Mixed with oil it was used for washing. marked--deeply ingrained, indelibly marked; the Hebrew, catham, being equivalent to cathab. Others translate, "is treasured up," from the Arabic. MAURER from a Syriac root, "is polluted."”