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Hosea 2
International Children’s Bible
Hosea 2
International Children’s Bible
2 “Your brothers and your sisters will be called ‘my people’ and ‘you have been shown love.’
God Speaks About Israel
2 “Plead with your mother.[a]
Plead with her because she no longer acts like a wife to me.
And I am not treated like her husband.
Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute.
Tell her to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.
3 If she refuses, I will strip her naked.
I will leave her bare like the day she was born.
I will make her dry like a desert.
I will make her like a land without water.
I will kill her with thirst.
4 I will not take pity on her children.
They are the children of an unfaithful wife.
5 Their mother has acted like a prostitute.
The one who became pregnant with them has acted disgracefully.
She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers.[b]
They give me food and water.
They give me wool and linen.
They give me wine and olive oil.’
6 So I will block her road with thornbushes.
I will build a wall around her
so she cannot find her way.
7 She will run after her lovers.
But she won’t catch up to them.
She will look for them.
But she won’t find them.
Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband.[c]
Life was better for me then than it is now.’
8 But she has not accepted that I was the one
who gave her grain, wine and oil.
I gave her much silver and gold.
But she used it to make statues of Baal.
9 “So I will take away my grain at harvest time.
And I will take away my wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and linen.
I gave her those things to cover her nakedness.
10 So I will show her nakedness to her lovers.
No one will save her from my punishment.
11 I will put an end to all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moon festivals and her Sabbaths.
I will stop all of her special feasts.
12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees.
She said they were her pay from her lovers.
I will turn them into a forest.
Wild animals will eat those plants.
13 I will punish her for all the times
she burned incense to the Baals.
She put on her rings and jewelry.
Then she went chasing after her lovers.
But she has forgotten me!”
says the Lord.
14 “So I am going to attract her.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
15 Then I will give her back her vineyards.
And I will make the Valley of Achor[d] a door of hope.
Then she will respond as when she was young,
as when she came out of Egypt.”
16 The Lord says, “Then she will call me ‘my husband.’
She will no longer call me ‘my baal.’[e]
17 I will never let her say the names of Baal again.
Then people won’t use their names anymore.
18 At that time I will make an agreement for them.
It will be with the wild animals, the birds and the crawling things.
I will remove from the land
the bow and the sword and the weapons of war.
Then my people will live in safety.
19 And I will make you my promised bride forever.
I will be good and fair.
I will show you my love and mercy.
20 I will be true to you as my promised bride.
Then you will accept that I am the Lord.
21 “And at that time I will answer you,” says the Lord.
“I will speak to the skies.
And they will give rain to the earth.
22 The earth will produce grain, wine and oil.
Much will grow because my people are called Jezreel—God plants.
23 I will plant my people in the land.
I will show pity to the one I had called ‘not shown pity.’
I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those I had called ‘not my people.’
And they will say to me, ‘You are our God.’”
Footnotes
- 2:2 mother This refers to the nation of Israel here.
- 2:5 lovers This refers to the nations surrounding Israel, who led Israel to worship false gods.
- 2:7 husband This refers to God here.
- 2:15 Achor This name in Hebrew means “trouble.” It refers here to punishment as the way to blessing.
- 2:16 baal Another Hebrew word for husband. But it was the same word as the false god Baal.
Hosea 2
New International Version
Hosea 2
New International Version
2 [a]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’(A)
Israel Punished and Restored
2 “Rebuke your mother,(B) rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous(C) look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip(D) her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;(E)
I will make her like a desert,(F)
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,(G)
because they are the children of adultery.(H)
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,(I)
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’(J)
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.(K)
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.(L)
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband(M) as at first,(N)
for then I was better off(O) than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged(P) that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,(Q)
who lavished on her the silver and gold(R)—
which they used for Baal.(S)
9 “Therefore I will take away my grain(T) when it ripens,
and my new wine(U) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose(V) her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;(W)
no one will take her out of my hands.(X)
11 I will stop(Y) all her celebrations:(Z)
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.(AA)
12 I will ruin her vines(AB) and her fig trees,(AC)
which she said were her pay from her lovers;(AD)
I will make them a thicket,(AE)
and wild animals will devour them.(AF)
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense(AG) to the Baals;(AH)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,(AI)
and went after her lovers,(AJ)
but me she forgot,(AK)”
declares the Lord.(AL)
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness(AM)
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor[b](AN) a door of hope.
There she will respond[c](AO) as in the days of her youth,(AP)
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.(AQ)
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;(AR)
you will no longer call me ‘my master.[d]’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;(AS)
no longer will their names be invoked.(AT)
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.(AU)
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish(AV) from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.(AW)
19 I will betroth(AX) you to me forever;
I will betroth you in[e] righteousness and justice,(AY)
in[f] love and compassion.(AZ)
20 I will betroth you in[g] faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge(BA) the Lord.(BB)
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond(BC) to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,(BD)
and they will respond to Jezreel.[h](BE)
23 I will plant(BF) her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[i](BG)’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[j]’ ‘You are my people’;(BH)
and they will say, ‘You are my God.(BI)’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1-23 is numbered 2:3-25.
- Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble.
- Hosea 2:15 Or sing
- Hosea 2:16 Hebrew baal
- Hosea 2:19 Or with
- Hosea 2:19 Or with
- Hosea 2:20 Or with
- Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)
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The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.