Jeremiah 2:22

lye the same as washing-soda. "It occurs as an incrustation on the ground in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere, and is also a constituent in the water of certain saline lakes. The most famous of the latter are the -natron lakes" in Egypt. They lie in the -natron valley" about 60 miles W.N.W. of Cairo." HDB. s. v.Nitre.

soap As natron is a mineralso this is a vegetablealkali. Salsola kali(saltwort) is the chief plant among those used in its production, and is found in abundance on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, as well as on the shores of the Dead Sea. This and other plants on being burnt furnish ashes, the lye of which (formed by passing water through them) was used for cleansing purposes. The immense heaps of rubbish frequently found in Palestine shew the extent of the manufacture. Soap-making by the admixture of oils and animal fat, now a prominent branch of industry in Palestine, was much later than Jeremiah's time.

thine iniquity is marked The original word occurs nowhere else in O.T. and apparently means stained. Cp. our expression, (iniquity) of the deepest dye.