Hosea 2:1-13

Israel's Unfaithfulness Condemned

1 ^[a]Say to your brothers, "Ammi," and to your sisters, "Ruhamah."

2 "Contend with your mother, ¹contend, For she is ²not my wife, and I am not her husband; And let her put away her ³harlotry from her face And her adultery from between her breasts,

3 Or I will strip her ⁴naked And expose her as on the ⁵day when she was born. I will also ⁶make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land And slay her with ⁷thirst.

4 "Also, I will have no compassion on her children, Because they are ⁸children of harlotry.

5 "For their mother has ⁹played the harlot; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, '¹⁰I will go after my lovers, Who ¹¹give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my ¹²oil and my drink.'

6 "Therefore, behold, I will ¹³hedge up her way with ¹⁴thorns, And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her ¹⁵paths.

7 "She will ¹⁶pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, '¹⁷I will go back to my ¹⁸first husband, For it was ¹⁹better for me then than now!'

8 "For she does ²⁰not know that it was ²¹I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal.

9 "Therefore, I will ²²take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax Given to cover her nakedness.

10 "And then I will ²³uncover her lewdness In the sight of her lovers, And no one will rescue her out of My hand.

11 "I will also ²⁴put an end to all her gaiety, Her ²⁵feasts, her ²⁶new moons, her sabbaths And all her festal assemblies.

12 "I will ²⁷destroy her vines and fig trees, Of which she said, 'These are my wages Which my lovers have given me.' And I will ²⁸make them a forest, And the ²⁹beasts of the field will devour them.

13 "I will punish her for the ³⁰days of the Baals When she used to ³¹offer sacrifices to them And ³²adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, And follow * her lovers, so that she ³³forgot Me," declares the LORD.

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Hosea 2:1-13 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 33

1. Ezekiel 23:45; Hosea 2:5; Hosea 4:5
2. Isaiah 50:1
3. Jer 3:1, 9, 13
4. Jeremiah 13:22; Ezek 16:7, 22, 39
5. Ezekiel 16:4
6. Isaiah 32:13, 14; Hosea 13:15
7. Jeremiah 14:3; Amos 8:11-13
8. Jeremiah 13:14
9. Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:25; Jeremiah 3:1, 2; Hosea 3:1
10. Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:25; Jeremiah 3:1, 2; Hosea 3:1
11. Jeremiah 44:17, 18; Hosea 2:12
12. Hosea 2:8
13. Job 19:8; Lamentations 3:7, 9
14. Hosea 9:6; Hosea 10:8
15. Jeremiah 18:15
16. Hosea 5:13
17. Luke 15:17, 18
18. Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 3:1; Ezekiel 16:8; Ezekiel 23:4
19. Jeremiah 14:22; Hosea 13:6
20. Isaiah 1:3
21. Ezekiel 16:19
22. Hosea 8:7; Hosea 9:2
23. Ezekiel 16:37
24. Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 16:9
25. Hosea 3:4; Amos 5:21; Amos 8:10
26. Isaiah 1:13, 14
27. Jeremiah 5:17; Jeremiah 8:13
28. Isaiah 5:5; Isaiah 7:23
29. Hosea 13:8
30. Hosea 4:13; Hosea 11:2
31. Jeremiah 7:9
32. Ezekiel 16:12, 17; Ezekiel 23:40
33. Hosea 4:6; Hosea 8:14; Hosea 13:6

Footnotes 9

[a]. Ch 2:3 in Heb
[b]. I.e. my people
[c]. I.e. she has obtained compassion
[d]. So with some ancient versions; Heb "your"
[e]. Lit "her wall so that"
[f]. Or "made into the"
[g]. Lit "its time"
[h]. Or "burn incense"
[i]. Or "nose rings"