Hosea 2:13-23

13 I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the LORD.

14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor^[a] a door of hope. There she will respond^[b] as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

16 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.^[c] ’

17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.

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. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in^[d] righteousness and justice, in^[e] love and compassion.

20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.

21 “In that day I will respond,” declares the LORD— “I will respond 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, and they will respond to Jezreel.^[f]

23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.^[g] ’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,^[h] ’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

Hosea 2:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 2

This chapter is an explanation of the former, proceeding upon the same argument in more express words. The godly Israelites are here called upon to lay before the body of the people their idolatry, ingratitude, obstinacy, and ignorance of the God of their mercies; and to exhort them to repentance, lest they should be stripped of all their good things, and be brought into great distress and difficulties; all their joy and comfort cease, and be exposed to shame and contempt, Ho 2:1-13, yet, notwithstanding, many gracious promises are made unto them, of their having the alluring and comfortable word of the Gospel; of a door of hope; of salvation being opened to them; of faith in the Lord, and affection to him as their husband; of the removal of all idolatry from them; of safety from all enemies; of their open espousal to Christ; of his hearing of their prayers, and giving them plenty of all good things; and of their multiplication, conversion, and covenant relation to God, Ho 2:14-23.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 65:7
• 2. ver 8; S Jeremiah 7:9; Hosea 11:2
• 3. S Ezekiel 16:17; S Ezekiel 23:40
• 4. Hosea 4:13
• 5. Hosea 4:6; Hosea 8:14; Hosea 13:6
• 6. S Jeremiah 44:17; Hosea 13:1
• 7. S Ezekiel 19:13
• 8. S Joshua 7:24,26
• 9. Exodus 15:1-18
• 10. S Jeremiah 2:2; S Ezekiel 16:22
• 11. S Ezekiel 28:26; Hosea 12:9
• 12. S Isaiah 54:5
• 13. Exodus 23:13; Psalms 16:4
• 14. S Joshua 23:7; Zechariah 13:2
• 15. S Job 5:22
• 16. S Psalms 46:9; S Isaiah 2:4; Zechariah 9:10
• 17. S Job 5:23; S Jeremiah 23:6; Ezekiel 34:25
• 18. S Isaiah 62:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2
• 19. S Isaiah 1:27
• 20. S Isaiah 54:8
• 21. Jeremiah 31:34; Hosea 4:1; Hosea 6:6; Hosea 13:4
• 22. S Ezekiel 16:8
• 23. Isaiah 55:10; Zechariah 8:12; Malachi 3:10-11
• 24. S Jeremiah 31:12; Hosea 14:7; Joel 2:19
• 25. S Ezekiel 36:29-30; S Hosea 1:4
• 26. S Jeremiah 31:27
• 27. S Hosea 1:6
• 28. S ver 1; S Isaiah 19:25; S Hosea 1:10
• 29. S Jeremiah 29:12; Romans 9:25*; 1 Peter 2:10

Footnotes

• [a]. "Achor" means "trouble."
• [b]. Or "sing"
• [c]. Hebrew "baal"
• [d]. Or "with" ; also in verse 20
• [e]. Or "with"
• [f]. "Jezreel" means "God plants."
• [g]. Hebrew "Lo-Ruhamah" (see 1:6)
• [h]. Hebrew "Lo-Ammi" (see 1:9)