This verse introduces new imagery, in which the people of Israel are compared to a person who has a terrible stain that neither lye nor much soap will remove. The lye referred to here was probably potassium carbonate, a strongly alkaline solution made from wood ashes or other vegetable matter. The noun translated soap is used only here (of washing the body) and in Mal 3.2 (of washing clothes). Lye would have been the stronger of the two cleansing agents. Soap will be known by translators almost everywhere, and even though the word for it in their language may be borrowed, it can be used. Lye may not be known, however, and translators can either substitute something used as a strong cleansing agent in their culture or use an expression like “strong cleaning agent.” Both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reduce lye … much soap to “the strongest soap.”

The stain of your guilt means “the stain caused by your guilt.” The noun translated guilt is found in many other places in Jeremiah. In Revised Standard Version it is consistently translated as either “guilt” or “iniquity,” except for the rendering “punishment” in 51.6. See further at 3.13.

[Something] is still before me is a Hebrew way of saying: “I still see [something],” which is the basis for Good News Translation “I would still see the stain of your guilt.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “the stain of your guilt always remains before my eyes.”

Says the Lord GOD is similar to “says the LORD” (1.8), but with the addition of GOD. See 1.6 for Lord GOD. “The Lord who is God” or “God who is our/the Lord” are common translations.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .