For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre.] Much used of old by fullers and neat laundresses, say Isidore and Athanasius, a now not known in these parts; apothecaries use saltpetre instead of it. Sin leaveth behind it a deep stain, so ingrained that it will hardly ever be gotten out, not at all by blanching, extenuating, excusing, &c., or by any legal purifications, hypocritical lotions. All which notwithstanding,
Thine iniquity is marked before me.] Nitet iniquitas tua, splendet instar auri, b It glisters like gold before me, whose eyes thou canst not blind or blear with any of thy colourable pretexts and pretences.
a Lib. xvi. Etym.; Lib. de Virg. - Nitrum sordes erodit et expurgat. - Plin.
b Piscat.