Bible Strands
Jeremiah 14:20
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Judah’s people address the LORD amid national crisis, following their lament over stricken Zion and unfulfilled hope for peace. They speak as a community confessing corporate guilt before pleading for covenant mercy.
The words — יָדַ֧עְנוּ (ya.Da'.nu) = we know [acknowledge] and חָטָ֖אנוּ (cha.Ta.nu) = we have sinned, framing the confession as both recognition and admission of transgression.
The thread — The pattern of confessing ancestral and personal guilt appears in Psalms 32:5, Jeremiah 3:25, and Luke 15:18. The immediate appeal to preserve God’s reputation and covenant runs in Jeremiah 14:21.
Why it lands — It requires a reader to explicitly name inherited and personal sin before requesting mercy. The text demands that confession precede any appeal for restoration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Cross-references
- Psalms 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
- Jeremiah 3:25 Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
- Luke 15:18 I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
- 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- Psalms 51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
- Psalms 106:6 We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
- Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’” declares the LORD.
- Daniel 9:5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.
- 2 Samuel 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.