Limitless Word
Does a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me.
Jeremiah 2:32 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
  • KJV Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me 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.
  • 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.

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 forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
  • Jer 13:25This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh; “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
  • 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.
  • Jer 2:11Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
  • 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.
  • Isa 61:10I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
  • 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 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
  • Jer 18:15For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. They have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up;
  • Jer 13:10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
  • Gen 24:22As the camels had done drinking, the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold,
  • Rev 21:2I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
  • 1 Pet 3:3–5Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing;
  • Ezek 22:12In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
  • Gen 24:53The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.
  • 2 Sam 1:24You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you delicately in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your clothing.
  • Gen 24:30When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
  • Ezek 16:10–13I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sealskin shoes on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
  • Ps 45:13–14The princess inside is all glorious. Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 2:32YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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

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.