Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
- KJV Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
- BSB You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
- NASB “You forgot the Rock who fathered you, And forgot the God who gave you birth.
- NLT You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel was unmindful of the Rock who fathered them, forgetting the God who gave them birth. It matters because it names the root of their sin as forgetting their Maker and Redeemer.
Overview
The tender images of God as Rock and birth-giving father heighten the offense of Israel's forgetfulness. To forget God is to lose sight of one's very origin and security. This warning against spiritual amnesia calls believers to remember and treasure their Maker, who has now revealed Himself most fully in Christ, the Rock of salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 17:10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
- Jer 2:32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
- Deut 32:4The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
- Ps 106:21They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
- Deut 8:11Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today;
- Deut 8:14then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
- Isa 22:10–11You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
- Hos 8:14For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.”
- Ps 44:20–22If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god;
- Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
- Deut 32:15But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
- Deut 8:19It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.
- Deut 6:12then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Jer 3:21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.