Israel’s Unfaithfulness Condemned
2 [a]Say to your brothers, “[b]Ammi,” and to your sisters, “[c]Ruhamah.”
2 “Dispute with your mother, (A)dispute,
Because she is (B)not my wife, and I am not her husband;
But she must remove her (C)infidelity from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts,
3 Otherwise, I will strip her (D)naked
And expose her as on the (E)day she was born.
I will also (F)make her like a wilderness,
Make her like desert land,
And put her to death with (G)thirst.
4 Also, I will take no pity on her children,
Because they are (H)children of infidelity.
5 For their mother has (I)committed prostitution;
She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘(J)I will go after my lovers,
Who (K)give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my flax, my (L)oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore, behold, I will (M)obstruct [d]her way with (N)thorns,
And I will build [e]a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her (O)paths.
7 And she will (P)pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them;
And she will seek them, but will not find them.
Then she will say, ‘(Q)I will go back to my (R)first husband,
Because it was (S)better for me then than now!’
8 “Yet she does (T)not know that it was (U)I myself who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
And lavished on her silver and gold,
Which they [f]used for Baal.
9 Therefore, I will [g](V)take back My grain at [h]harvest time
And My new wine in its season.
I will also take away My wool and My flax
That I gave to cover her nakedness.
10 So now I will (W)uncover her [i]lewdness
Before the eyes of her lovers,
And no one will rescue her from My hand.
11 I will also (X)put an end to all her joy,
Her (Y)feasts, her (Z)new moons, her Sabbaths,
And all her festivals.
12 And I will (AA)destroy her vines and fig trees,
Of which she said, ‘They are my wages for prostitution
Which my lovers have given me.’
And I will (AB)turn them into a forest,
And the (AC)animals of the field will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the (AD)days of the Baals
When she used to [j](AE)offer sacrifices to them
And (AF)adorn herself with her nose ring and jewelry,
And follow her lovers, so that she (AG)forgot Me,” declares the Lord.
Restoration of Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I am going to persuade her,
(AH)Bring her into the wilderness,
And speak [k]kindly to her.
15 Then I will give her her (AI)vineyards from there,
And (AJ)the [l]Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will [m](AK)respond there as in the days of her youth,
As in the (AL)day when she went up from the land of Egypt.
16 And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord,
“That you will call Me [n](AM)my husband
And no longer call Me my [o]Baal.
17 For (AN)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
So that they will no longer be [p]mentioned by their names.
18 On that day I will also make a covenant for them
With the (AO)animals of the field,
The birds of the sky,
And the crawling things of the ground.
And I will [q](AP)eliminate the bow, the sword, and war from the land,
And will let them (AQ)lie down in safety.
19 I will (AR)betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in (AS)righteousness and in justice,
In favor and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will (AT)know the Lord.
21 “And it will come about on that day that (AU)I will respond,” declares the Lord.
“I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,
22 And the (AV)earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine, and to the oil,
And they will respond to [r]Jezreel.
23 I will (AW)sow her for Myself in the land.
(AX)I will also have compassion on [s]her who had not obtained compassion,
And (AY)I will say to [t]those who were (AZ)not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And [u]they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 Ch 2:3 in Heb
- Hosea 2:1 I.e., my people
- Hosea 2:1 I.e., she has obtained compassion
- Hosea 2:6 As in some ancient versions; MT your
- Hosea 2:6 Lit her stone wall so that
- Hosea 2:8 Or made into the
- Hosea 2:9 Lit return and take My
- Hosea 2:9 Lit its time
- Hosea 2:10 Or shame
- Hosea 2:13 Or burn incense
- Hosea 2:14 Lit upon her heart
- Hosea 2:15 Lit Valley of Trouble
- Hosea 2:15 Or give answer
- Hosea 2:16 Heb Ishi
- Hosea 2:16 Also meaning husband in Heb, besides a name for false gods
- Hosea 2:17 Or remembered
- Hosea 2:18 Lit break
- Hosea 2:22 I.e., God sows
- Hosea 2:23 Heb Lo-ruhamah
- Hosea 2:23 Heb Lo-ammi
- Hosea 2:23 Lit he
Cross references
- Hosea 2:2 : Ezek 23:45; Hos 2:5; 4:5
- Hosea 2:2 : Is 50:1
- Hosea 2:2 : Jer 3:1, 9, 13
- Hosea 2:3 : Jer 13:22; Ezek 16:7, 22, 39
- Hosea 2:3 : Ezek 16:4
- Hosea 2:3 : Is 32:13, 14; Hos 13:15
- Hosea 2:3 : Jer 14:3; Amos 8:11-13
- Hosea 2:4 : Jer 13:14
- Hosea 2:5 : Is 1:21; Jer 2:25; 3:1, 2; Hos 3:1
- Hosea 2:5 : Is 1:21; Jer 2:25; 3:1, 2; Hos 3:1
- Hosea 2:5 : Jer 44:17, 18; Hos 2:12
- Hosea 2:5 : Hos 2:8
- Hosea 2:6 : Job 19:8; Lam 3:7, 9
- Hosea 2:6 : Hos 9:6; 10:8
- Hosea 2:6 : Jer 18:15
- Hosea 2:7 : Hos 5:13
- Hosea 2:7 : Luke 15:17, 18
- Hosea 2:7 : Jer 2:2; 3:1; Ezek 16:8; 23:4
- Hosea 2:7 : Jer 14:22; Hos 13:6
- Hosea 2:8 : Is 1:3
- Hosea 2:8 : Ezek 16:19
- Hosea 2:9 : Hos 8:7; 9:2
- Hosea 2:10 : Ezek 16:37
- Hosea 2:11 : Jer 7:34; 16:9
- Hosea 2:11 : Hos 3:4; Amos 5:21; 8:10
- Hosea 2:11 : Is 1:13, 14
- Hosea 2:12 : Jer 5:17; 8:13
- Hosea 2:12 : Is 5:5; 7:23
- Hosea 2:12 : Hos 13:8
- Hosea 2:13 : Hos 4:13; 11:2
- Hosea 2:13 : Jer 7:9
- Hosea 2:13 : Ezek 16:12, 17; 23:40
- Hosea 2:13 : Hos 4:6; 8:14; 13:6
- Hosea 2:14 : Ezek 20:33-38
- Hosea 2:15 : Ezek 28:25, 26
- Hosea 2:15 : Josh 7:26
- Hosea 2:15 : Jer 2:1-3; Ezek 16:8-14
- Hosea 2:15 : Hos 11:1; 12:9, 13; 13:4
- Hosea 2:16 : Is 54:5; Hos 2:7
- Hosea 2:17 : Ex 23:13; Josh 23:7; Ps 16:4
- Hosea 2:18 : Job 5:23; Is 11:6-9; Ezek 34:25
- Hosea 2:18 : Is 2:4; Ezek 39:1-10
- Hosea 2:18 : Lev 26:5; Jer 23:6; Ezek 34:25
- Hosea 2:19 : Is 62:4, 5
- Hosea 2:19 : Is 1:27; 54:6-8
- Hosea 2:20 : Jer 31:33, 34; Hos 6:6; 13:4
- Hosea 2:21 : Is 55:10; Zech 8:12; Mal 3:10, 11
- Hosea 2:22 : Jer 31:12; Joel 2:19
- Hosea 2:23 : Jer 31:27
- Hosea 2:23 : Hos 1:6
- Hosea 2:23 : Rom 9:25; 1 Pet 2:10
- Hosea 2:23 : Hos 1:9