John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 14:20

"We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against thee." — Jeremiah 14:20 (ASV)

The Prophet here undoubtedly prescribes to the Jews the way of appeasing God. He had previously uttered a prayer, partly to reprove the people for their wicked obstinacy, and partly to show the godly and the elect that some hope remained.

But now he uses a simple form of prayer, when he says, O Lord, we know, etc. Hardly one in a thousand then knew this; but the Prophet does not assume the character of the whole people. And why not? He doubtless knew that the faithful among the people were very few. Instead, he dictates for posterity a right form of prayer, so that they might in exile know that only this one thing remained for them—to confess their sins, as otherwise they could not obtain pardon.

He therefore says, We know our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have done wickedly against thee. We have already explained the Prophet’s meaning in these few words: that when God puts forth His hand against us, there is no hope of salvation unless we repent.

But confession is here used for repentance. Hypocrites indeed confess their sins very freely; but the Prophet here speaks of real confession. By stating a part for the whole, as I have said, everything included in repentance is intended. The object here is to show that they were to humbly seek forgiveness, which could not be done unless they condemned themselves before God, and thus anticipated His judgment.

He speaks of the iniquity of the fathers, not meaning that the faithful seek associates here and there to extenuate their guilt. On the contrary, it was an aggravation of their sins when they confessed this. They acknowledged not only that they themselves were guilty before God, but also that they had brought from the womb what was, so to speak, hereditary, making them deserve death because they were the descendants of ungodly parents.

While hypocrites allege the examples of fathers, thinking themselves thereby absolved or at least less culpable because they learned what they practice from childhood and because a bad education had led them astray, the faithful are of a far different mind. They confess themselves worthy of God’s vengeance, even if He did not inquire into the wickedness of their fathers. They also believe that God acts justly when He executes vengeance for their fathers’ sins, making them worthy of a twofold vengeance.

So now we understand what the Prophet means. From this we learn how foolishly the Papists set up this shield against God, that is, by often having the word "fathers" on their lips. For, on the contrary, they ought to confess the wickedness and iniquities of their fathers, according to what is more fully enlarged upon in Daniel 9, where Daniel confesses that he himself, the fathers, and the kings had acted wickedly.

And in these words of Jeremiah, we may also notice that it was not some slight fault he refers to when he said, We acknowledge our iniquity and the iniquity of our fathers; he mentions first the iniquity of the living, then the iniquity of their fathers, and adds, in the third place, We have acted wickedly against thee. From this we see that he did not formally acknowledge only some slight faults. Instead, he confesses most plainly that they were all ungodly, transgressors of God’s law, and worthy not merely of moderate chastisement, but of dreadful perdition, as they had thus provoked the wrath of God.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that though we have once been reconciled to You, and reconciliation has been testified to us in Your gospel, we still daily provoke Your wrath—O grant that we may at least groan, and so sincerely condemn our vices that we may be touched with real and deep sorrow, and thus learn to flee, not only once in our life but every moment, to Your mercy, that You may be reconciled to us, and not deal with us according to our merits. But since You were once pleased to embrace us with paternal love for the sake of Your only-begotten Son, continue this favor to us, until, at length, having been cleansed from all filth and pollution, we shall become partakers of Your celestial glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.