Hosea 2
English Standard Version
Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished
2 [a] Say to your brothers, (A)“You are my people,”[b] and to your sisters, (B)“You have received mercy.”[c]
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for (C)she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away (D)her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest (E)I strip her naked
and make her as (F)in the day she was born,
and (G)make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 (H)Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
(I)because they are children of whoredom.
5 For (J)their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For (K)she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who (L)give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore (M)I will hedge up her[d] way with thorns,
and (N)I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
(O)Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to (P)my first husband,
(Q)for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And (R)she did not know
that it was (S)I who gave her
(T)the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on (U)her silver and gold,
(V)which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore (W)I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and (X)I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now (Y)I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 (Z)And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her (AA)new moons, her (AB)Sabbaths,
and all her (AC)appointed feasts.
12 And (AD)I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
(AE)of which she said,
‘These are (AF)my wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
(AG)and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And (AH)I will punish her for (AI)the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and (AJ)adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
The Lord's Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and (AK)bring her into the wilderness,
and (AL)speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor[e] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer (AM)as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And (AN)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For (AO)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And (AP)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And (AQ)I will abolish[f] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in (AR)safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me (AS)forever. (AT)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 (AU)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And (AV)you shall know the Lord.
21 “And (AW)in that day (AX)I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer (AY)Jezreel,[g]
23 and (AZ)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And (BA)I (BB)will have mercy on No Mercy,[h]
and (BC)I will say to Not My People,[i] (BD)‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 Ch 2:3 in Hebrew
- Hosea 2:1 Hebrew ammi, which means my people
- Hosea 2:1 Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy
- Hosea 2:6 Hebrew your
- Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26
- Hosea 2:18 Hebrew break
- Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God will sow
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi
Hosea 2
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Israel’s Adultery Rebuked
2 Rebuke your mother; rebuke her.(A)
For she is not My wife and I am not her husband.(B)
Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face(C)
and her adultery from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked(D)
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert(E)
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.(F)
4 I will have no compassion on her children(G)
because they are the children of promiscuity.
5 Yes, their mother is promiscuous;
she conceived them and acted shamefully.(H)
For she thought, “I will go after my lovers,(I)
the men who give me my food and water,
my wool and flax, my oil and drink.”(J)
6 Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her[c] way(K) with thorns;(L)
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths.(M)
7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;(N)
she will seek them but not find them.
Then she will think,
“I will go back to my former husband,(O)
for then it was better for me than now.”(P)
8 She does not recognize(Q)
that it is I who gave her the grain,(R)
the new wine, and the oil.
I lavished silver and gold on her,
which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time(S)
and My new wine in its season;
I will take away My wool and linen,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will expose her shame(T)
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from My hands.
11 I will put an end to all her celebrations:(U)
her feasts,(V) New Moons,(W) and Sabbaths—
all her festivals.
12 I will devastate her vines and fig trees.(X)
She thinks that these are her wages
that her lovers have given her.
I will turn them into a thicket,(Y)
and the wild animals will eat them.(Z)
13 And I will punish her for the days of the Baals(AA)
when she burned incense to them,(AB)
put on her rings and jewelry,(AC)
and went after her lovers,
but forgot Me.(AD)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Israel’s Adultery Forgiven
14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness,(AE)
and speak tenderly to her.[d]
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her(AF)
and make the Valley of Achor[e](AG)
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,(AH)
as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 In that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will call Me, “My husband,”(AI)
and no longer call Me, “My Baal.”[f]
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals
from her mouth;
they will no longer be remembered by their names.
18 On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.(AJ)
I will shatter bow, sword,
and weapons of war in the land[g](AK)
and will enable the people to rest securely.(AL)
19 I will take you to be My wife forever.(AM)
I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,
justice, love, and compassion.(AN)
20 I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh.(AO)
21 On that day I will respond(AP)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will respond to the sky,
and it will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond to the grain,(AQ)
the new wine, and the oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will sow her[h] in the land for Myself,(AR)
and I will have compassion(AS)
on No Compassion;
I will say(AT) to Not My People:(AU)
You are My people,(AV)
and he will say, “You are My God.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 Hs 2:3 in Hb
- Hosea 2:1 Lit Say to
- Hosea 2:6 LXX, Syr; MT reads your
- Hosea 2:14 Lit speak to her heart
- Hosea 2:15 = Trouble
- Hosea 2:16 Or My master
- Hosea 2:18 Or war on the earth
- Hosea 2:23 = Israel
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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