Hosea 2:1-6

1 Say ye to your brethren, They be my people; and to your sister(s), That (that) hath gotten mercy, (Say ye to your brothers, They be Ammi, or My People; and to your sisters, Ruhamah, or Ye be loved.)

2 Deem ye your mother, deem ye, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Do she away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from the midst of her breasts; (Plead ye with your mother, yea, plead ye with her, for she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Do she away her adulteries, or her idolatries, from before her, and her adulteries from the midst of her breasts;)

3 lest peradventure I spoil her naked, and set her naked by the day of her nativity. And I shall set her as a wilderness, and I shall ordain her as a land without (a) way, and I shall slay her in thirst. (lest perhaps I strip her naked, yea, make her as naked as she was on the day of her birth. And I shall make her as bare as a wilderness, and I shall ordain her as a land without a way, and I shall kill her with thirst.)

4 And I shall not have mercy on the sons of her, for they be the sons of fornications; (And then I shall not have mercy on her children, for they be the children of adulteries, or of idolatries;)

5 for the mother of them did fornication, she is shamed that conceived them, for she said, I shall go after my lovers, that give [my] loaves to me, and my waters, and my wool, and my flax, and mine oil, and my drink. (for their mother did adultery, or idolatry, yea, she is shamed who conceived them, for she said, I shall go after my lovers, who give me my bread, and my water, and my wool, and my flax, and my oil, and my drink.)

6 For this thing, lo! I shall hedge thy way with thorns, and I shall hedge it (about) with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.

Hosea 2:1-6 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.