to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
innocent
נִקֵּ֔יתִיni.Kei.ti
H5352
to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively) · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
anger
אַפּ֖וֹ'a.Po
H639
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
turn
שָׁ֥בshav
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
plead
נִשְׁפָּ֣טnish.Pat
H8199
to judge · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
sayest
אָמְרֵ֖ךְ'a.me.Rekh
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
sinned
חָטָֽאתִיcha.Ta.ti
H2398
properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Job 33:9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.
Isaiah 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the d…
Jeremiah 2:9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
Jeremiah 2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift d…
Jeremiah 2:29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will gi…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:29–end
The prophet here goes on in the same strain, aiming to bring a sinful people to repentance, that their destruction might be prevented.
I. He avers the truth of the charge. It was evident beyond contradiction; it was the greatest absurdity imaginable in them to think of denying it (Jer 2:29): "Wherefore will you plead with me, and put me upon the proof of it, or wherefore will you go about to plead any thing in excuse of the crime or to obtain a mitigation of the sentence? Your plea will certainly be overruled, and judgment given against you: you know you have all transgressed, one as well as another; why then to you quarrel with me for contending with you?"
II. He heightens it from the consi…
Yet thou sayest, because I am innocent,.... Or, "that I am innocent"; though guilty of such flagrant and notorious crimes, acting like the adulterous woman, Proverbs 30:20 to whom the Jews are all along compared in this chapter; which shows the hardness of their hearts, and their impudence in sinning:
surely his anger shall turn from me; the anger of God, since innocent; or, "let his anger be turned from me", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; pleading for the removing of judgments upon the foot of innocency, which is pretended:
behold, I will plead with thee; enter into judgment with thee, and examine the case closely and thoroughly:
because thou sayest, I have not sinned; it would h…
Jeremiah 2:35
35. 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.
35. Et dixisti (hoc est, dixisti tamen; nam copula hic accipitur pro tamen,) certe (nam ky causalis particula hic audaciam notat, vel illam jactantiam plenam impudentiae, ut auderent asserere Iudaei se esse innoxios, certe) ego sum munda (ego sum innocens;) tantum recedat furor ejus a me: Ecce ego judico to (vel, contendam tecum in judicio,) quia dixisti, non peccavi.
The Prophet here shews that the Jews were possessed of such a brazen front, that they could not be led by any admonitions to feel any shame. Though then they w…
The Church Fathers
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."
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 Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Innocency · General references — General references
Self-Righteousness · 2:9; — 2:9;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Yet withal the people holds itself to be guiltless, and deludes itself with the belief that God's wrath has turned away from it, because it has for long enjoyed peace, and because the judgment of devastation of the land by enemies, threatened by the earlier prophets, had not immediately received its fulfilment. For this self-righteous confidence in its innocence, God will contend with His people (אותך for אתּך as in Jer 1:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 2:35
Israel’s sinful condition was evident in the people’s arrogant retort. They claimed that they were innocent, and that God was needlesslyhad needless angry with them. God responded to the people’s denial of guilt by decreeing that he would be severe in his punishment and that he would not tolerate their denial of wrongdoing (Prov 23:13; Mal 2:17; 3:8; 1 Jn 1:8, 10).
Rashi on Jeremiah 2:35
And you said i.e., you said in your heart.
But I am innocent That I have purified my soul.
I contend with you I will come with you in judgment.
