Jeremiah 2:22

(Verse 22) If you wash yourself with niter, you will multiply for yourself the herb borith, you are stained in your iniquity before me, says the Lord God. As for the herb borith, which we render in Hebrew, the LXX translated it as 'poan' to signify the herb of fullers, which grows in green and moist places according to the custom of the province of Palestine; and it has the same power for washing away stains as niter. But our niter and the herb of the fuller is repentance. The book of Ecclesiasticus, which also rebukes and rebukes and corrects wrongdoers, has the similarity of sharp nitre. However, one who is stained with light stains of sins is cleansed by lighter admonitions. But serious sins, which lead to death, cannot be diluted by nitre or the herb Borith: but they require more severe torments. For the work of each person will be tested by fire, and it will be revealed in the fire (1 Cor. III). And he added beautifully: You are spotted in your wickedness in my sight: for even if you seem clean to men, you are not clean to me, who know the consciences of each one. Hence it is said in another place: Not every living thing shall be justified in your sight (Psalm 42:2).

After this let us look at the words: "though you wash yourself with nitre and multiply soapwort for yourself, you are stained in your iniquities before me, says the Lord." Did some sinful soul suppose that, by taking nitre and washing herself with perceptible nitre, she would cease from the stain and cease from sin? And did someone imagine that, by taking this soapwort which springs up from the earth, and washing and scrubbing himself with it, his soul would be cleansed — since here the word says to her who was turned to bitterness and became an alien vine: "though you wash yourself with nitre and multiply soapwort for yourself, you are stained in your iniquities before me, says the Lord"? But one must know that the word has every power; and just as it has the power of every writing, so the word has the power of every medicine, and it is the power of everything that cleanses, and is most effective for scouring: "for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword." And whatever you may say, where there is need, this lies in the power of the word. There is, then, a certain word that is nitre, and there is a certain word that is soapwort, which, when spoken, cleanses such filth. But since not every sin is healed by such a word which is nitre, and by such a word which is soapwort — but there are sins that need neither nitre nor soapwort — it is said to her who thinks she has sins such as can be washed away by nitre and soapwort: "though you wash yourself with nitre and multiply soapwort for yourself, you are stained before me in your iniquities, says the Lord." And just as of wounds there are some that are healed with a poultice, and others healed with oil, and others need a bandage and are thus made whole, but there are other wounds concerning which it is said: "there is no poultice to apply, nor oil, nor bandages; but your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire" — so there are certain sins which defile the soul, and for these sins a man needs a word of nitre, a word of soapwort; but there are certain sins which are not healed in this way, for they are not even comparable to filth. Therefore the Lord in Isaiah, knowing the differences of sins, see how he says: "the Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and will cleanse away the blood from their midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning."…