Hos Hosea, chapter Book of Hosea, chapter 2
Israel’s Adultery Rebuked
“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’2:1 Hebrew Ammi
and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’2:1 Or Mercy is shown; Hebrew Ruhamah, which means she has received mercyIsa 19:25; Isa 54:8
Rebuke your mother,
rebuke her,
for she is not My wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adultery from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.Ezk 16:15; Ezk 23:5
Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and expose her like the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert
and turn her into a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.Ezk 16:4; Hos 5:9; Amo 8:13
I will have no compassion on her children,
because they are the children of adultery.Hos 5:7
For their mother has played the harlot
and has conceived them in disgrace.
For she thought,
‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me bread and water,
wool and linen, oil and drink.’Ezk 16:44; Jer 44:17
Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up her path2:6 Hebrew your path with thorns;
I will enclose her with a wall,
so she cannot find her way.Lam 3:9
She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;
she will seek them but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will return to my first husband,
for then I was better off than now.’Deu 31:17; Hos 14:2
For she does not acknowledge
that it was I who gave her grain,
new wine, and oil,
who lavished on her silver and gold —
which they crafted for Baal.Ezk 16:16; Ezk 28:14; Hos 8:4
Therefore I will take back My grain in its time
and My new wine in its season;
I will take away My wool and linen,
which were given to cover her nakedness.Hos 9:2
And then I will expose her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will deliver her
out of My hands.Jer 13:22; Ezk 16:37; Hos 5:14
I will put an end to all her exultation:
her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—
all her appointed feasts.Isa 24:8; Jer 7:34; Lam 5:15
I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers.
So I will make them into a thicket,
and the beasts of the field will devour them.Jol 1:12; Hos 5:9
I will punish her for the days of the Baals
when she burned incense to them,
when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers.
But Me she forgot,”
declares the LORD.Jer 2:32
God’s Mercy to Israel
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her
and lead her to the wilderness,
and speak to her tenderly.Isa 40:2; Zep 3:9
There I will give back her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor2:15 Achor means trouble.
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.Jos 7:24; Isa 65:10; Exo 19:1; Mic 7:15
In that day,”
declares the LORD,
“you will call Me ‘my Husband,’2:16 Hebrew my Ishi
and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’2:16 Hebrew my Baal
For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;
no longer will their names be invoked.Exo 23:13; Deu 12:3
On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
And I will abolish bow and sword
and battle in the land,
and will make them lie down in safety.Job 5:23; Ezk 34:25
So I will betroth you to Me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in loving devotion2:19 Forms of the Hebrew chesed are translated here and in most cases throughout the Scriptures as loving devotion; the range of meaning includes love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and mercy, as well as loyalty to a covenant. and compassion.Psa 45:9; 2Co 11:2; Rev 19:7
And I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will know the LORD.”Isa 53:11; Jhn 17:3
“On that day I will respond —”
declares the LORD —
“I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth.
And the earth will respond to the grain,
to the new wine and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.2:22 Jezreel means God sows.Jol 3:18; Amo 9:14
And I will sow her as My own in the land,
and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhamah; LXX I will love her who was not loved
I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi
‘You are My people,’2:23 Cited in Romans 9:25 and 1 Peter 2:10
and they will say,
‘You are my God.’”Hos 1:10