If I wash myself with melted snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
If I wash myself with snow water, And make my hands never so clean;
If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
If I wash myself with snow, purify my hands with soap,
If I had been washed with snow-like waters, and my hands were shining like the cleanest thing,
If I be washed as it were with snow-waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean:
If my step has strayed from the way, if my heart has walked after my eyes, or if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
For you ask, ‘What will it profit you?’ and ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’
then You would plunge me into a pit and my own clothes would detest me.
I will wash my hands in innocence, so I can walk around Your altar, Adonai,
Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
One who covers up his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them finds mercy.
Even though you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your iniquity is before Me.” It is a declaration of the Lord Adonai.
O Jerusalem, purify your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
For being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.
If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.