Acknowledge (Good News Translation “confess”) is more literally “know.” The word may be used in a wide variety of contexts; its first occurrence is in 1.5. Compare its use in 3.13.

The noun wickedness is used only here in the book of Jeremiah; an adjective from the same Hebrew root is used in 5.26; 12.1; 23.19; 25.31; 30.23. It is doubtful if there is any difference in meaning between this term and iniquity (see 2.22) or the verb sinned (see 2.35). Good News Translation translates the three as “sinned … sins … sins.” In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch the verse is rendered “We acknowledge it, Lord, and confess it: We are guilty before you, we and our ancestors.” Translators can also say something like “LORD, we confess our sins and those of our ancestors. We have sinned against you.”

As elsewhere, fathers refers to “ancestors” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .