Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
- BSB Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
- ESV Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
- NKJV Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
- NASB “Can a virgin forget her jewelry, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me For days without number.
- NLT Does a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
A bride never forgets her finery, yet Israel forgot God for ages. Their forgetfulness is unnatural and shocking.
Overview
Yahweh observes that a young woman would not forget her jewelry nor a bride her wedding dress, yet His people have forgotten Him beyond counting. The comparison exposes the abnormality of neglecting the God who is infinitely more precious. Forgetting God is portrayed as a deep perversion of the heart's proper affections.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Ps 106:21They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
- Jer 13:25This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
- Jer 3:21A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
- Jer 2:11Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
- Isa 17:10Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
- Isa 61:10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
- Hos 8:14For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
- Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
- Jer 18:15Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
- Jer 13:10This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
- Gen 24:22And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
- Rev 21:2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
- 1 Pet 3:3–5Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
- Ezek 22:12In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
- Gen 24:53And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
- 2 Sam 1:24Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
- Gen 24:30And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.
- Ezek 16:10–13I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
- Ps 45:13–14The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 2:32 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
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