Hosea 2
Legacy Standard Bible
No Compassion for Children of Harlotry
2 [a]Say to your brothers, “[b]Ammi,” and to your sisters, “[c]Ruhamah.”
2 “Contend with your mother, (A)contend,
For she is (B)not my wife, and I am not her husband;
And let her remove her (C)harlotry from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts,
3 Lest I strip her (D)naked
And set her forth as on the (E)day when she was born
And (F)make her like a wilderness
And [d]make her like dry land
And put her to death with (G)thirst.
4 Also, I will have no compassion on her children
Because they are (H)children of harlotry.
5 For their mother has (I)played the harlot;
She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘(J)I will go after my lovers,
Who (K)give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my flax, my (L)oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore, behold, I will (M)hedge up [e]her way with (N)thorns,
And I will build [f]a wall against her so that she cannot find her (O)paths.
7 So she will (P)pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;
And she will seek them, but will not find them.
Then she will say, ‘(Q)I will go, and I will return to my (R)first husband,
For it was (S)better for me then than now!’
8 “Now she does (T)not know that it was (U)I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
And multiplied silver and gold for her,
Which they [g]used for Baal.
9 Therefore, I will (V)take back My grain at [h]harvest time
And My new wine in its season.
I will also deliver My wool and My flax from them
Given to cover her nakedness.
10 So now I will (W)uncover her lewdness
In the sight of her lovers,
And no one will deliver her out of My hand.
11 I will also (X)cease all her joy,
Her (Y)feasts, her (Z)new moons, her sabbaths,
And all her appointed times.
12 And I will (AA)make desolate her vines and fig trees,
Of which she said, ‘These are my wages
Which my lovers have given me.’
And I will (AB)make them a forest,
And the (AC)beasts of the field will devour them.
13 So I will visit the (AD)days of the Baals upon her
When she used to [i](AE)offer offerings in smoke to them
And (AF)adorn herself with her [j]earrings and jewelry
And go after her lovers, so that she (AG)forgot Me,” declares Yahweh.
Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her
(AH)And bring her into the wilderness
And speak to her heart.
15 Then I will give her her (AI)vineyards from there
And (AJ)the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will [k](AK)sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the (AL)day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,
“That you will call Me [l](AM)Ishi
And will no longer call Me [m]Baali.
17 So (AN)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth
So that they will be remembered by their names no more.
18 And in that day I will cut a covenant for them
With the (AO)beasts of the field,
The birds of the sky,
And the creeping things of the ground.
And I will (AP)break the bow, the sword, and war from the land,
And I will make them (AQ)lie down in security.
19 And I will (AR)betroth you to Me forever;
Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in (AS)righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will (AT)know Yahweh.
21 “And it will be in that day, that (AU)I will answer,” declares Yahweh.
“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,
22 And the (AV)earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
And they will answer [n]Jezreel.
23 And I will (AW)sow her for Myself in the land.
(AX)I will also have compassion on [o]her who had not obtained compassion,
And (AY)I will say to [p]those who were (AZ)not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And [q]they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 Ch 2:3 in Heb
- Hosea 2:1 Lit my people
- Hosea 2:1 Lit she has obtained compassion
- Hosea 2:3 Lit set
- Hosea 2:6 As in some ancient versions; Heb your
- Hosea 2:6 Lit her wall so that
- Hosea 2:8 Or made into the
- Hosea 2:9 Lit its time
- Hosea 2:13 Or burn incense
- Hosea 2:13 Or nose rings
- Hosea 2:15 Or give answer
- Hosea 2:16 Lit my husband
- Hosea 2:16 Lit my master, my Baal
- Hosea 2:22 Lit God sows
- Hosea 2:23 Heb Lo-ruhamah
- Hosea 2:23 Heb Lo-ammi
- Hosea 2:23 Lit he
Hosea 2
Contemporary English Version
2 1 So let your brothers be called “My People” and your sisters be called “Shown Mercy.”[a]
The Lord Promises To Punish Israel
2 Accuse! Accuse your mother!
She is no longer my wife,
and now I, the Lord,
am not her husband.
Beg her to give up prostitution
and stop being unfaithful,[b]
3 or I will strip her naked
like the day she was born.
I will make her barren
like a desert,
and she will die of thirst.
4 You children are the result
of her unfaithfulness,
and I'll show you no pity.
5 Your mother was unfaithful.
She was disgraceful and said,
“I'll run after my lovers.
Everything comes from them—
my food and drink,
my linen and wool,
my olive oil and wine.”
6 I, the Lord, will build
a fence of thorns
to block her path.
7 She will run after her lovers,
but not catch them;
she will search,
but not find them.
Then she will say, “I'll return
to my first husband.
Life was better then.”
8 She didn't know that her grain,
wine, and olive oil
were gifts from me,
as were the gold and silver
she used in worshiping Baal.[c]
9 So I'll hold back the harvest
of grain and grapes.
I'll take back
my wool and my linen
that cover her body.
10 Then I'll strip her naked
in the sight of her lovers.[d]
No one can rescue her.
11 I'll stop Israel's celebrations—
no more New Moon Festivals,
Sabbaths, or other feasts.
12 She said, “My lovers gave me
vineyards and fig trees
as payment[e] for sex.”
Now I, the Lord, will ruin
her vineyards and fig trees;
they will become clumps of weeds
eaten by wild animals.
13 I'll punish her for the days
she worshiped Baal
and burned incense to him.
I'll punish her for the times
she forgot about me
and wore jewelry and rings
to attract her lovers.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
The Lord Will Help Israel
14 Israel, I, the Lord,
will lure you into the desert
and speak gently to you.
15 (A) I will return your vineyards,
and then Trouble Valley[f]
will become Hopeful Valley.
You will say “Yes” to me
as you did in your youth,
when leaving Egypt.
16 I promise from that day on, you will call me your husband instead of your master.[g] 17 I will no longer even let you mention the names of those pagan gods that you called “Master.” 18 And I will agree to let you live in peace—you will no longer be attacked by wild animals and birds or by weapons of war. 19 I will accept you as my wife forever, and instead of a bride price[h] I will give you justice, fairness, love, kindness, 20 and faithfulness. Then you will truly know who I am.
21 I will command the sky to send rain on the earth, 22 and it will produce grain, grapes, and olives in Jezreel Valley. 23 (B) I will scatter the seeds and show mercy to Lo-Ruhamah.[i] I will say to Lo-Ammi,[j] “You are my people,” and they will answer, “You are our God.”
Footnotes
- 2.1 My People … Shown Mercy: In Hebrew “My People” is “Ammi” and “Shown Mercy” is “Ruhamah” (see Lo-Ruhamah in 1.6 and Lo-Ammi in 1.9).
- 2.2 prostitution … unfaithful: See the note at 1.2.
- 2.8 Baal: A Canaanite god of fertility.
- 2.10 I'll strip … lovers: Or “I'll show her lovers how disgusting she is.”
- 2.12 fig trees … payment: Hosea uses an unusual word for “fig tree,” which is spelled something like the word for “payment.”
- 2.15 Trouble Valley: Or “Achor Valley.” The exact location of the valley is unknown, but in Hebrew “Achor” sounds like “Achan,” who brought trouble on Israel by disobeying the Lord (see Joshua 7.24-26).
- 2.16 husband … master: In Hebrew the word “master” is the same as the name of the god Baal. But the Lord promises that his people will have a deep personal relationship with him (like a devoted wife and husband) rather than merely a legal tie (like a wife and her “master”).
- 2.19 bride price: It was the custom for the husband to pay his wife's parents a bride price. Instead of money, the Lord will give much better benefits to Israel.
- 2.23 Lo-Ruhamah: See the note at 1.6.
- 2.23 Lo-Ammi: See the note at 1.9.
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