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31 You people of this generation,
listen to the Lord’s message:
“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?
Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?[a]
Why then do you[b] say, ‘We are free to wander.[c]
We will not come to you anymore?’
32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?
Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?
But my people have forgotten me
for more days than can even be counted.
33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers![d]
Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two![e]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 2:31 tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation in this context.
  2. Jeremiah 2:31 tn Heb “my people.”
  3. Jeremiah 2:31 tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” The meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) is debated in the few passages where it occurs. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [veradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [veyaradti]) in Judg 11:37, where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.
  4. Jeremiah 2:33 tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”
  5. Jeremiah 2:33 tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”