Jeremiah 2:35
in Jeremiah 2you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yet thou saidst, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
KJV
Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
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This verse in Jeremiah 2
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Because I am innocent - Rather, But “I am innocent,” or, “I am acquitted.” Those blood-stains cannot be upon my skirts, because now, in king Josiah’s days, the idolatry of Manasseh has been put away. Shall turn from me - Or, has turned away “from me.” Plead - Or, enter into judgment.
This site's exposition
How skillfully you pursue love
on Jeremiah 2:33-37
The charge is skill turned to evil: “Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways”. Judah's skirts are “stained with the blood of the innocent poor”, yet she says, “I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me”, and the LORD judges her for that claim.
This site's exposition
Surely His anger will turn from me
Innocent can be read as acquitted, a verdict the people give themselves. They point to Josiah's reform as proof that Manasseh's guilt had passed, and some render the verb has turned away. The LORD answers with a trial.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
It makes God angry for us to imagine that we are free from all impurity. He is even found saying to one of those who led polluted lives, Behold, I have a suit with you because you say I have not sinned, in that you have acted very contemptuously in repeating your ways. For the repetition of the way to sins is for us, when we are overtaken by offenses, to refuse to believe that we are guilty of the defilement that arises from them.
Let us, therefore, pray without ceasing, according to the expression of the blessed Paul. Let us be careful to do so aright.… Remember him who says by the voice of Isaiah, Declare your sins first, that you may be justified; remember too that he rebukes those who will not do so and says, Behold, I have a judgment against you, because you say I have not sinned. Examine the words of the saints, for one says, "The righteous is the accuser of himself in the beginning of his words," and another says, "I said, I will confess against myself my transgression to the Lord; and you forgave the iniquity of my heart."
(Ver. 35, 36) And you said: I am without sin and innocent: and therefore let your anger turn away from me. Behold, I will contend with you in judgment, because you have said: I have not sinned: how despicable you have become, repeating your ways too much (or how greatly you have despised).
For God readily accepts and has mercy on those who do not forget their offenses but fall down before him and ask of him forgiveness. But he is severe, and very justly so, on the hardhearted and the proud, and on one who in his great ignorance acquits himself of blame. For God said to one thus disposed, Behold, I have a suit against you, because you say, I have not sinned. For who can boast that he has a pure heart? Or who can have confidence that he is undefiled by sins? The road then to salvation, and which delivers those who earnestly walk on it from the wrath of God, is the confession of offenses, and to say in our prayers to him who purifies the wicked, Forgive us our sins.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Yet thou sayest, because I am innocent,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Because I am innocent - They continued to assert their innocence, and therefore expected that God’s judgments would be speedily removed! I will plead with thee - I will maintain my process, follow it up to conviction, and inflict the deserved punishment.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתֹּֽאמְרִי֙ | vatomeri | and you said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִקֵּ֔יתִי | nikeiti | I am innocent | H5352 → | 44 times |
| אַ֛ךְ | ʾakh | surely | H389 → | 161 times |
| שָׁ֥ב | shav | it has turned back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אַפּ֖וֹ | ʾapo | anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
| מִמֶּ֑נִּי | mimeni | from me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הִנְנִי֙ | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| נִשְׁפָּ֣ט | nishpat | [am] about to enter into judgment with | H8199 → | 202 times |
| אוֹתָ֔ךְ | ʾotakh | with <the> you | H854 → | 929 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | because | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אָמְרֵ֖ךְ | ʾamerekh | saying you | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| חָטָֽאתִי׃ | chatati | I have sinned | H2398 → | 238 times |
וַתֹּֽאמְרִי֙and you said
vatomeriH559 →5305 times
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
נִקֵּ֔יתִיI am innocent
nikeitiH5352 →44 times
אַ֛ךְsurely
ʾakhH389 →161 times
שָׁ֥בit has turned back
shavH7725 →1056 times
אַפּ֖וֹanger his
ʾapoH639 →276 times
מִמֶּ֑נִּיfrom me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
הִנְנִי֙here I
hiniH2005 →316 times
נִשְׁפָּ֣ט[am] about to enter into judgment with
nishpatH8199 →202 times
אוֹתָ֔ךְwith <the> you
ʾotakhH854 →929 times
עַל־because
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
אָמְרֵ֖ךְsaying you
ʾamerekhH559 →5305 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
חָטָֽאתִי׃I have sinned
chatatiH2398 →238 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 28:13He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
it leads to
- 1 John 1:8–10
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Psalms 32:3–5
When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
- Job 31:33
if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
- Luke 15:18–24
I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
- Jeremiah 3:12–13
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be…
- 1 John 1:8–10
Through
Jeremiah 2:9Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the LORD, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:35–36
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, where I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 20:35–36
Through
Romans 7:9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
it leads to
- Galatians 3:10
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Galatians 3:10
Through
Jeremiah 25:31The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth because the LORD brings a charge against the nations. He brings judgment on all mankind and puts the wicked to the sword,’” declares the…
it leads to
- Micah 6:2
Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 6:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 149; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 120; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 76; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.