Font Size
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)
Hosea 2
International Standard Version
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
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
International Standard Version (ISV) 
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.