1 John 1:9

Geneva Bible (1560)

If we acknowledge our sinnes, he is faithfull and iust, to forgiue vs our sinnes, & to clense vs from all vnrighteousnes.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, πιστός ἐστιν καὶ δίκαιος ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας.

Transliteration

If we homologōmen the hamartias of us, pistos estin and dikaios hina he might aphē to us the hamartias, and might katharisē us from all adikias.

Grammar Details

• *homologōmen*: present subjunctive, 1st plural, active - we might confess/acknowledge [potential ongoing action]
• *hamartias*: accusative, feminine, plural - sins [direct object]
• *pistos*: nominative, masculine, singular - faithful/trustworthy
• *estin*: present, 3rd singular - is [ongoing state]
• *dikaios*: nominative, masculine, singular - righteous/just
• *hina*: conjunction introducing purpose clause - so that/in order that
• *aphē*: aorist subjunctive, 3rd singular, active - might forgive/release [potential action]
• *katharisē*: aorist subjunctive, 3rd singular, active - might cleanse/purify [potential action]
• *adikias*: genitive, feminine, singular - unrighteousness/wrongdoing

Word Meanings

• *homologōmen*: confess/acknowledge/agree/admit
• *hamartias*: sins/wrongdoings/errors/failures
• *pistos*: faithful/trustworthy/reliable/believable
• *estin*: is/exists/remains
• *dikaios*: righteous/just/fair/right
• *hina*: so that/in order that/with the purpose that
• *aphē*: forgive/release/let go/remit
• *katharisē*: cleanse/purify/make clean
• *adikias*: unrighteousness/injustice/wrongdoing/wickedness

Referenced Verses

• Ps 32:5 : 5 Then I acknowledged my sinne vnto thee, neither hid I mine iniquitie: for I thought, I will confesse against my selfe my wickednesse vnto the Lord, and thou forgauest the punishment of my sinne. Selah.
• Prov 28:13 : 13 He that hideth his sinnes, shall not prosper: but he that confesseth, and forsaketh them, shall haue mercy.
• Ps 51:2-5 : 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquitie, and clense me from my sinne. 3 For I know mine iniquities, and my sinne is euer before me. 4 Against thee, against thee onely haue I sinned, and done euill in thy sight, that thou mayest be iust when thou speakest, and pure when thou iudgest. 5 Beholde, I was borne in iniquitie, and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me.
• 1 John 1:7 : 7 But if we walke in the light as he is in the light, we haue fellowship one with another, and the blood of Iesus Christ his Sonne clenseth vs from all sinne.
• Jer 33:8 : 8 And I wil clense them from all their iniquitie, whereby they haue sinned against me: yea, I wil pardon all their iniquities, whereby they haue sinned against me, and whereby they haue rebelled against me.
• Job 33:27-28 : 27 He looketh vpon men, and if one say, I haue sinned, and peruerted righteousnesse, and it did not profite me, 28 He will deliuer his soule from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
• Heb 10:23 : 23 And washed in our bodies with pure water, let vs keepe the profession of our hope, without wauering, (for he is faithfull that promised)
• Titus 2:14 : 14 Who gaue him selfe for vs, that hee might redeeme vs from all iniquitie, and purge vs to bee a peculiar people vnto himselfe, zealous of good woorkes.
• Ezek 37:23 : 23 Neither shall they bee polluted any more with their idoles, nor with their abominatios, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will saue them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they haue sinned, and will clense them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
• Lam 3:23 : 23 They are renued euery morning: great is thy faithfulnesse.
• Ezek 36:25 : 25 Then wil I powre cleane water vpon you, and ye shalbe cleane: yea, from all your filthines, and from all your idoles wil I clense you.
• Isa 45:21 : 21 Tell ye and bring them, and let them take counsell together, who hath declared this from the beginning? or hath tolde it of olde? Haue not I the Lord? and there is none other God beside me, a iust God, and a Sauiour: there is none beside me.
• Deut 7:9 : 9 That thou mayest knowe, that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithfull God which keepeth couenant and mercie vnto them that loue him and keepe his commaundements, euen to a thousand generations,
• 1 Tim 1:15 : 15 This is a true saying, and by all meanes worthy to be receiued, that Christ Iesus came into the worlde to saue sinners, of whom I am chiefe.
• Rom 3:26 : 26 Through the patience of God, to shewe at this time his righteousnesse, that hee might be iust, and a iustifier of him which is of the faith of Iesus.
• 1 Cor 1:9 : 9 God is faithfull, by whom ye are called vnto the felowship of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord.
• Acts 19:18 : 18 And many that beleeued, came and confessed, and shewed their workes.
• 1 Kgs 8:47 : 47 Yet if they turne againe vnto their heart in the lande (to the which they be caryed away captiues) and returne and pray vnto thee in the lande of them that caryed them away captiues, saying, We haue sinned, we haue transgressed, and done wickedly,
• 2 Chr 6:37-38 : 37 If they turne againe to their heart in the lande whither they be caryed in captiues, and turne and pray vnto thee in the lande of their captiuitie, saying, We haue sinned, we haue transgressed and haue done wickedly, 38 If they turne againe to thee with all their heart, and with all their soule in the land of their captiuitie, whither they haue caryed them captiues, and pray toward their land, which thou gauest vnto their fathers, & toward the citie which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I haue built for thy Name,
• Neh 1:6 : 6 I pray thee, let thine eares be attet, & thine eies open, to heare the praier of thy seruat, which I pray before thee dayly, day & night for ye childre of Israel thy seruats, & confesse the sinnes of the children of Israel, which we haue sinned against thee, both I and my fathers house haue sinned:
• Neh 9:2-9 : 2 (And they that were of the seede of Israel were separated from all the strangers) and they stoode and confessed their sinnes and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood vp in their place and read in the booke of the Lawe of the Lord their GOD foure times on the day, and they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God foure times. 4 Then stoode vp vpon the staires of the Leuites Ieshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cryed with a loud voyce vnto the Lord their God. 5 And the Leuites said, euen Ieshua and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodiiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, Stande vp, and praise the Lorde your God for euer, and euer, and let them praise thy glorious Name, O God, which excelleth aboue all thankesgiuing and praise. 6 Thou art Lorde alone: thou hast made heauen, and the heauen of all heauens, with all their hoste, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, & al that are in them, & thou preseruest them all, and the host of the heauen worshippeth thee. 7 Thou art, O Lord, the God, that hast chosen Abram, and broughtest him out of Vr in Caldea, and madest his name Abraham, 8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a couenant with him, to giue vnto his seede the lande of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, and Perizzites, and Iebusites, and Girgashites, and hast performed thy wordes, because thou art iust. 9 Thou hast also considered the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the red Sea, 10 And shewed tokens & wonders vpon Pharaoh, and on all his seruants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudely against them: therefore thou madest thee a Name, as appeareth this day. 11 For thou didest breake vp the Sea before them, and they went through the middes of the Sea on dry lande: and those that pursued them, hast thou cast into the bottomes as a stone, in the mightie waters: 12 And leddest them in the day with a pillar of a cloude, and in the night with a pillar of fire to giue them light in the way that they went. 13 Thou camest downe also vpon mount Sinai, and spakest vnto them from heauen, and gauest them right iudgements, and true lawes, ordinances and good commandements, 14 And declaredst vnto them thine holy Sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, and ordinances, and lawes, by the hande of Moses thy seruant: 15 And gauest them bread from heauen for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rocke for their thirst: and promisedst them that they shoulde goe in, and take possession of the land: for the which thou haddest lift vp thine hand for to giue them. 16 But they and our fathers behaued them selues proudely, and hardened their neck, so that they hearkened not vnto thy commandements, 17 But refused to obey, & would not remember thy marueilous works that thou haddest done for them, but hardened their neckes, and had in their heads to returne to their bondage by their rebellion: but thou, O God of mercies, gratious and full of compassion, of long suffring and of great mercie, yet forsookest them not. 18 Moreouer, when they made them a molten calfe (and said, This is thy God that brought thee vp out of the land of Egypt) and committed great blasphemies, 19 Yet thou for thy great mercies forsookest them not in the wildernesse: the pillar of the cloude departed not from them by day to leade them the way, neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way whereby they should goe. 20 Thou gauest also thy good Spirite to instruct them, & withheldest not thy MAN from their mouth, & gauest them water for their thirst. 21 Thou didest also feede them fourtie yeres in ye wildernes: they lacked nothing: their clothes waxed not old, and their feete swelled not. 22 And thou gauest them kingdomes & people, and scatteredst them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon & the land of ye King of Heshbon, and the land of Og King of Bashan. 23 And thou diddest multiplie their children, like the starres of the heauen, and broughtest them into the lande, whereof thou haddest spoken vnto their fathers, that they should goe, and possesse it. 24 So the children went in, and possessed the lande, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the lande, euen the Canaanites, and gauest them into their handes, with their Kings and the people of the lande, that they might do with them what they would. 25 And they tooke their strong cities and the fat lande, and possessed houses, full of all goods, cisternes digged out, vineyardes, and oliues, and trees for foode in abundance, and they did eate, and were filled, and became fat, and liued in pleasure through thy great goodnesse. 26 Yet they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy Lawe behinde their backes, and slewe thy Prophets (which protested among them to turne them vnto thee) and committed great blasphemies. 27 Therefore thou deliueredst them into the hande of their enemies that vexed them: yet in the time of their affliction, when they cryed vnto thee, thou heardest them from the heauen, & through thy great mercies thou gauest them sauiours, who saued them out of the hande of their aduersaries. 28 But when they had rest, they returned to doe euill before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hande of their enemies, so that they had the dominion ouer them, yet when they conuerted and cryed vnto thee, thou heardest them from heauen, and deliueredst them according to thy great mercies many times, 29 And protestedst among them that thou mightest bring them againe vnto thy Lawe: but they behaued them selues proudely, and hearkened not vnto thy commaundements, but sinned against thy iudgements ( which a man should doe and liue in them) and pulled away the shoulder, and were stiffenecked, and woulde not heare. 30 Yet thou diddest forbeare them many yeeres, and protestedst among them by thy Spirite, euen by the hande of thy Prophets, but they woulde not heare: therefore gauest thou them into the hande of the people of the lands. 31 Yet for thy great mercies thou hast not consumed them, neither forsaken them: for thou art a gracious and mercifull God. 32 Nowe therefore our God, thou great God, mightie and terrible, that keepest couenant and mercie, let not all the affliction that hath come vnto vs, seeme a litle before thee, that is, to our Kings, to our princes, and to our Priests, and to our Prophets, and to our fathers, and to all thy people since the time of the Kings of Asshur vnto this day. 33 Surely thou art iust in all that is come vpon vs: for thou hast dealt truly, but we haue done wickedly. 34 And our kings and our princes, our Priests and our fathers haue not done thy Lawe, nor regarded thy commandements nor thy protestations, wherewith thou hast protested among them. 35 And they haue not serued thee in their kingdome, and in thy great goodnesse that thou shewedst vnto them, & in the large and fat lande which thou diddest set before them, and haue not conuerted from their euill workes. 36 Beholde, we are seruants this day, and the lande that thou gauest vnto our fathers, to eate the fruite thereof, and the goodnesse thereof, beholde, we are seruants therein. 37 And it yeeldeth much fruit vnto the kings whom thou hast set ouer vs, because of our sinnes: and they haue dominion ouer our bodyes and ouer our cattell at their pleasure, and we are in great affliction.
• Lev 26:40-42 : 40 Then they shall confesse their iniquitie, & the wickednes of their fathers for their trespasse, which they haue trespassed against mee, and also because they haue walked stubburnly against me. 41 Therefore I wil walke stubburnly against them, and bring them into the land of their enemies: so then their vncircumcised hearts shalbe humbled, and then they shalt willingly beare the punishment of their iniquitie. 42 Then I will remember my couenant with Iaakob, and my couenant also with Izhak, and also my couenant with Abraham will I remember, and will remember the land.
• Dan 9:4-9 : 4 And I prayed vnto the Lord my God, and made my confession, saying, Oh Lord God, which art great and fearefull, & keepest couenant and mercy toward them which loue thee, and toward them that keepe thy commandements, 5 We haue sinned, and haue committed iniquitie and haue done wickedly, yea, we haue rebelled, and haue departed from thy precepts, and from thy iudgements. 6 For we would not obey thy seruants the Prophets, which spake in thy Name to our Kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousnes belongeth vnto thee, and vnto vs open shame, as appeareth this day vnto euery man of Iudah, and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem: yea, vnto all Israel, both neere and farre off, through all the countreys, whither thou hast driuen them, because of their offences, that they haue committed against thee. 8 O Lord, vnto vs apperteineth open shame, to our Kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we haue sinned against thee. 9 Yet compassion and forgiuenesse is in the Lorde our God, albeit we haue rebelled against him. 10 For we haue not obeyed the voyce of the Lord our God, to walke in his lawes, which he had laide before vs by the ministerie of his seruants the Prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel haue transgressed thy Lawe, and are turned backe, and haue not heard thy voyce: therefore the curse is powred vpon vs, and the othe that is written in the Lawe of Moses the seruant of God, because we haue sinned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his wordes, which he spake against vs, and against our iudges that iudged vs, by bringing vpon vs a great plague: for vnder the whole heauen hath not bene the like, as hath bene brought vpon Ierusalem. 13 All this plague is come vpon vs, as it is written in the Lawe of Moses: yet made we not our prayer before the Lorde our God, that we might turne from our iniquities and vnderstand thy trueth. 14 Therefore hath the Lord made ready the plague, and brought it vpon vs: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we would not heare his voyce. 15 And nowe, O Lorde our God, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mightie hand, and hast gotten thee renoume, as appeareth this day, we haue sinned, we haue done wickedly. 16 O Lorde, according to all thy righteousnes, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy wrath be turned away from thy citie Ierusalem thine holy Mountaine: for because of our sinnes, & for the iniquities of our fathers, Ierusalem and thy people are a reproche to all that are about vs. 17 Nowe therefore, O our God, heare the prayer of thy serunant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine vpon thy Sanctuarie, that lyeth waste for the Lords sake. 18 O my God, encline thine eare and heare: open thine eyes, and beholde our desolations, and the citie whereupon thy Name is called: for we doe not present our supplications before thee for our owne righteousnes, but for thy great tender mercies. 19 O Lorde, heare, O Lorde forgiue, O Lorde consider, and doe it: deferre not, for thine owne sake, O my God: for thy Name is called vpon thy citie, and vpon thy people. 20 And whiles I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sinne, and the sinne of my people Israel, and did present my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy Mountaine of my God,
• Zech 9:9 : 9 Reioyce greatly, O daughter Zion: shoute for ioy, O daughter Ierusalem: beholde, thy King commeth vnto thee: he is iust and saued himselfe, poore and riding vpon an asse, and vpon a colt the foale of an asse.
• Mark 1:5 : 5 And al ye countrey of Iudea, & they of Hierusalem went out vnto him, and were all baptized of him in the riuer Iordan, confessing their sinnes.
• Heb 6:10 : 10 For God is not vnrighteous, that hee should forget your worke, and labour of loue, which ye shewed toward his Name, in that ye haue ministred vnto the Saints, and yet minister.
• 1 Cor 6:11 : 11 And such were some of you: but yee are washed, but yee are sanctified, but yee are iustified in the Name of the Lorde Iesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
• Eph 5:26 : 26 That hee might sanctifie it, and clense it by the washing of water through the worde,
• Heb 11:11 : 11 Through faith Sara also receiued strength to conceiue seede, and was deliuered of a childe when she was past age, because she iudged him faithfull which had promised.