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
International Standard Version
2 1 [a]So call your brothers ‘Ammi,’[b] and your sisters ‘Ruhamah.’”[c]
Gomer is Rebuked
2 “Call your mother to account, call her—
for she is not my wife,
and I’m not her husband.
Let her do away with her seductive looks
and remove her adultery from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I’ll strip her naked—
as she was on the day she was born—
make her like a wilderness,
turn her into a parched land,
and cause her to die of thirst.
4 Furthermore, I’ll not show pity on her children,
since they are children of prostitution.
5 Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution—
the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully—
when she said,
‘I’m going after my lovers,
who provide me food and water,
as well as my wool, my flax,
my oil, and my wine.’
6 “Look how I’m blocking her[d] path with thorns
and building a wall to hinder[e] her,
so she can’t find her way.
7 She will pursue her lovers,
but she won’t catch up with them.
She will seek them,
but she won’t find them.
Then she will say,
‘I’ll go back and return to my first husband,
because it was better for me then than now.’
8 She didn’t recognize
that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil,
and it was I who gave her silver,
while they crafted gold for Baal.
9 “Therefore I’ll return
and take back my grain at harvest time
and my new wine in its season.
I’ll take back my wool and my flax
that was to have covered her nakedness.
10 So now I’ll reveal her lewdness to the eyes of her lovers,
and no man will rescue her from my control.[f]
11 I’ll put a stop to her mirth,
along with her celebrations, her New Moons, her Sabbaths,[g] and all of her festive assemblies.
12 I’ll destroy her vines and her fig trees,
about which she said,
‘These are the earnings that my lovers paid me.
I’ll make them grow into a forest,
and the wild animals will eat from them.’
13 I’ll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals,[h]
to whom she burned incense,
and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels
so she could go after her lovers and forget me,”
declares the Lord.
Alluring a Wayward Wife
14 “Therefore, look! I will now allure her.
I will make her go out to the wilderness,
and will speak to her heart.
15 There I will restore her vineyards to her,
and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope.
There she will respond as she did in her youth,
when she came up from Egypt.”
The Restoration of Israel
16 “It will come about at that time,”
declares the Lord,
“that you will address me as ‘My husband,’
and you will no longer call me ‘My master’.[i]
17 I will remove the names of the Baals[j] from her vocabulary[k]—
they will not be remembered by their names anymore.
18 I will make a covenant with them at that time,
a covenant[l] with the wild animals of the field,
with the birds of the air,
and with the creatures of the ground.
I will banish[m] the battle bow, the sword, and war from the earth.
I will cause my people[n] to lie down where it is safe.
19 I will make you my wife forever—
I will make you my wife in a way that is righteous,
in a manner that is just,
by a love that is gracious,
and by a motive that is mercy.
20 I will make you my wife because of my[o] faithfulness,
and you will know the Lord.
21 “It will come about at that time that I will respond,”
declares the Lord,
“I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond with grain, new wine, and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[p]
23 I will plant my people[q] in the land for myself.
I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy[r]
I will say to those who are not my people,[s] ‘You are my people!’
and they will say, ‘You are[t] my God.’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 This vs. is 2:3 in MT, and so throughout the chapter.
- Hosea 2:1 Lit. My People
- Hosea 2:1 Lit. Beloved; i.e. in contrast to the names Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi in vv. 6-9
- Hosea 2:6 So with LXX. MT reads your
- Hosea 2:6 Lit. wall against
- Hosea 2:10 Lit. hand
- Hosea 2:11 So with LXX. MT reads Sabbath
- Hosea 2:13 Lit. for the days of the Baalim; i.e. Canaanite deities
- Hosea 2:16 Heb. baali, a word play alluding to the Canaanite deity of a similar name
- Hosea 2:17 I.e. Canaanite deities
- Hosea 2:17 Lit. mouth
- Hosea 2:18 The Heb. lacks a covenant
- Hosea 2:18 Lit. break
- Hosea 2:18 Lit. cause them
- Hosea 2:20 Lit. wife in
- Hosea 2:22 The Heb. name Jezreel means God sows
- Hosea 2:23 Lit. planted her
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. on Lo-Ruhamah
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. to Lo-Ammi
- Hosea 2:23 The Heb. lacks You are
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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