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Hosea 2

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1
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. ​

Israel's Adultery and Coming Punishment 2–13

2
Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; ​
3
lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. ​
4
Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;
5
for their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. ​
6
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths. ​
7
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. ​
8
For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. ​
9
Therefore will I take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
10
And now will I uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.
11
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. ​
12
And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13
And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah. ​

God Promises Restoration and Renewal 14–23

14
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. ​
15
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. ​
16
And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali. ​
17
For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name.
18
And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. ​
19
And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. ​
20
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah.
21
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth; ​
22
and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Jezreel.
23
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Hosea 2

Verse 1

Ammi… Ruhamah — The names of 1:6 and 1:9 with the 'Lo' ('not') taken away: 'my people' and 'having obtained mercy'. The command is plural, 'Say ye', and the same root gives 'I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy' in v.23. Peter cites the change as the church's: 'which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God' (1 Pet 2:10).

Verse 2

Plead with your mother — Riv, to contend in a lawsuit, as the LORD 'hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land' (4:1). The words 'she is not my wife' belong with divorce: 'Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement' (Isa 50:1); 'I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce' (Jer 3:8). 'Adulteries' (naaphupim) occurs only here.

Verse 3

as in the day that she was born — The picture is Israel's beginning, 'when thou wast naked and bare' (Ezek 16:22). The 'wilderness' and 'dry land' are what the LORD's people crossed, and 'thirst' (tsama) is what they feared there: 'to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst' (Ex 17:3). The punishment returns her to the want from which he brought her.

Verse 5

I will go after my lovers — 'After' is achar, the word of 1:2, 'departing from' (literally from after) the LORD. She credits 'my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink' to the lovers, though v.8 says she did not know who gave them. The people in Jer 44:17 reason the same way about the queen of heaven: 'then had we plenty of victuals, and were well'.

Verse 6

I will hedge up thy way with thorns — Suk, 'hedge', is the verb of the protecting hedge in Job 1:10, 'Hast not thou made an hedge about him'; here the hedge of thorns and the wall block the road. 'Find' (matsa) recurs in v.7, 'shall not find them'. Proverbs says 'The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns' (Prov 15:19).

Verse 7

she shall not overtake them — Radaph, 'follow', and nasag, 'overtake', are the pair in the enemy's boast at the sea, 'I will pursue, I will overtake' (Ex 15:9). Here she pursues her lovers and cannot catch them. 'I will go and return' (shuv) is the word of repentance, as in the far country: 'I will arise and go to my father' (Luke 15:18). Jer 2:2 recalls 'the love of thine espousals'.

Verse 8

she did not know that I gave her corn — Corn, wine and oil are the gifts of Deut 7:13, 'thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil'. 'Know' (yada) is what Israel lacks in Isa 1:3, 'Israel doth not know'. The silver and gold given to her went into Baal's service, as 8:4 says: 'of their silver and their gold have they made them idols'.

Verse 11

her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths — The list is the calendar of the law, including the 'beginnings of your months' offered to the LORD (Num 28:11). 'Solemn feasts' is moed, 'appointed times'. The LORD says through Isaiah, 'Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth' (Isa 1:14), and v.13 names 'the days of Baalim' that had taken their place.

Verse 13

I will visit upon her the days of Baalim — Paqad, 'visit', is the verb of 'avenge' in 1:4. Baalim is the plural of Baal, the lords Israel served: 'forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim' (Judg 3:7). The earrings (nezem) and jewels were the LORD's own gifts: 'I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears' (Ezek 16:12). 'Forgat' is the sin of Deut 8:11.

Verse 14

I will allure her — Patah, to entice, the verb of Ex 22:16, 'if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed', and of Jeremiah's 'thou hast deceived me' (Jer 20:7). The LORD leads her 'into the wilderness' where, he says, 'I did know thee' (13:5), and where she once 'wentest after me' (Jer 2:2). 'Speak comfortably' is the word of Isa 40:2, 'Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem'.

Verse 15

the valley of Achor for a door of hope — Achor means 'trouble'. The valley received its name from Achan's punishment, 'the valley of Achor, unto this day' (Josh 7:26). It becomes 'a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me' (Isa 65:10). Israel 'came up out of the land of Egypt' with song, and the LORD 'called my son out of Egypt' (11:1).

Verse 16

thou shalt call me Ishi — Ishi, 'my man' or husband. Baali means 'my master', and could be said of the LORD, but it is also the name of the false god, whose 'names' v.17 removes from her mouth. 'Thy Maker is thine husband' (Isa 54:5) uses the verb behind baal, while the name chosen here is ish, the plain word for a husband.

Verse 18

I will break the bow and the sword and the battle — This answers 1:5, 'I will break the bow of Israel'. The covenant with 'the beasts of the field' fulfils Lev 26:6, 'I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land', and Ezek 34:25, 'a covenant of peace'. 'Lie down safely' is also Lev 26:6: 'ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid'.

Verse 19

I will betroth thee unto me for ever — 'Betroth' (aras) stands three times in vv.19–20. The gifts are 'in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies'; 'mercies' (rachamim) is from the root of Ruhamah (1:6). Paul says 'I have espoused you to one husband' (2 Cor 11:2), and John sees the city 'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband' (Rev 21:2).

Verse 21

I will hear the heavens — Anah, 'answer', links a chain through vv.21–22: the LORD answers the heavens, the heavens the earth, the earth the corn, wine and oil, and these answer 'Jezreel', 'God sows' (v.22). Zechariah pictures the same order: 'the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew' (Zech 8:12).

Verse 23

I will sow her unto me in the earth — Zara, 'sow', is the verb in the name Jezreel, 'God will sow' (1:4); the name that spoke of scattering now speaks of planting. 'Not obtained mercy' and 'not my people' (1:6, 9) are both reversed. Paul cites the verse in Rom 9:25–26 and Peter in 1 Pet 2:9–10. Zech 13:9 ends in the same words: 'It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God'.