Jeremiah 2:32
in Jeremiah 2Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
KJV
Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
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This verse in Jeremiah 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 32.) Will the virgin forget her adornment, and the bride her breastplate? My people have forgotten me in countless days. Through these things we learn that Christ is the bridegroom of the virgin Church, which has no blemish or wrinkle. But if he is the bridegroom, his words are, as John the Baptist speaks: He who has the bride is the bridegroom (John 3:29). Therefore, he loses his adornment who departs from the Lord, and loses the understanding of the teachings, which is symbolized in the breastplate.
This site's exposition
Why do you bring a case against Me
on Jeremiah 2:29-32
The LORD turns the plea back, “You have all rebelled against Me”, and says correction has failed, since their sons “accepted no discipline”. A maiden does not forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash, yet “My people have forgotten Me for days without number”.
This site's exposition
Does a maiden forget her jewelry
The wedding sash was the bride's girdle, bound on for a day she would never forget. Days without number covers the fifty-five years of Manasseh's reign, when idolatry filled the land. Josiah's reform had not yet undone it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
It is the virgin Mary of whom God by the mouth of Jeremiah speaks, saying, "Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire?" Concerning her we read of a great miracle in the same prophecy—that a woman should compass a man and that the Father of all things should be contained in a virgin's womb.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Can a maid forget her ornaments,.... Which she has provided for her wedding day, and is then to wear, and which may be the next; such as ear rings, bracelets, and jewels, which are never out of her mind, and can scarce sleep for thinking of them, how richly she shall be adorned with them; wherefore it follows: or a bride her attire? or, "her bindings" (o); her knots about her head or breast.
A maid - How unlikely is it, that a maid should forget her ornaments? A bride - Those jewels which the bridegroom was wont to present his bride with. Forgotten - In the neglect of my worship; me, who was not only their defense, but their glory.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Can a maid forget her ornaments - This people has not so much attachment to me as young females have to their dress and ornaments. They never forget them and even when arrived at old age, look with pleasure on the dress and ornaments which they have worn in their youth. Days without number - That is, for many years; during the whole reign of Manasses, which was fifty-five years, the land was deluged with idolatry, from which the reform by good King Josiah his grandson had not yet purified it.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A bride treasures all her life the girdle, which first indicated that she was a married woman, just as brides now treasure the wedding ring; but Israel, Yahweh’s bride Jer 2:2, cherishes no fond memorials of past affection.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲתִשְׁכַּ֤ח | hatishkach | ¿ will she forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| בְּתוּלָה֙ | betulah | a virgin | H1330 → | 50 times |
| עֶדְיָ֔הּ | ʾedyah | ornament[s] her | H5716 → | |
| כַּלָּ֖ה | kalah | a bride | H3618 → | 34 times |
| קִשֻּׁרֶ֑יהָ | kishureiha | sashes her | H7196 → | |
| וְעַמִּ֣י | veami | and people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| שְׁכֵח֔וּנִי | shekhechuni | they have forgotten me | H7911 → | 102 times |
| יָמִ֖ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מִסְפָּֽר׃ | mispar | [is] number | H4557 → | 134 times |
הֲתִשְׁכַּ֤ח¿ will she forget
hatishkachH7911 →102 times
בְּתוּלָה֙a virgin
betulahH1330 →50 times
עֶדְיָ֔הּornament[s] her
ʾedyahH5716 →
כַּלָּ֖הa bride
kalahH3618 →34 times
קִשֻּׁרֶ֑יהָsashes her
kishureihaH7196 →
וְעַמִּ֣יand people my
veamiH5971 →1873 times
שְׁכֵח֔וּנִיthey have forgotten me
shekhechuniH7911 →102 times
יָמִ֖יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
מִסְפָּֽר׃[is] number
misparH4557 →134 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 2:11Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
it leads to
- Romans 1:23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
- Isaiah 37:19
They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
- Jeremiah 16:20
Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”
- Psalms 106:20
They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.
- Micah 4:5
Though each of the peoples may walk in the name of his god, yet we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
- Romans 1:23
Through
Isaiah 17:10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—
it leads to
- Psalms 106:21
They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,
- Isaiah 26:4
Trust in the LORD forever, because GOD the LORD is the Rock eternal.
- Psalms 106:21
Through
Jeremiah 13:25This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
it leads to
- Job 20:29
This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
- Job 20:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; Jerome, Against Jovinianus 1.32; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.