Hosea 2
2
1“On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call your sisters Ruhamah.#2:1. Ammi means “my people,” and Ruhamah means “pitied” or “loved.” 2Condemn your mother, condemn her because she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop looking like a prostitute—get rid of the makeup and the provocative clothing.#2:2. Literally, “Let her remove her fornication from her face and her adultery from between her breasts.” The exact meaning is unclear. Possibilities include: the suggestive looks of a prostitute; the prostitute's makeup and jewelry; revealing clothing; or a prostitute's actions with her lovers. In any case the main sense is clear: Israel is to stop prostituting herself with other gods.
3Otherwise I will strip her naked as the day she was born, and make her like a desert, a barren land, and let her die of thirst. 4I will have no pity on her children, because they are children of prostitution. 5For their mother was a prostitute who conceived them in a shameful way. She said, ‘I'll run after my lovers who give me my food and water, my wool and flax and olive oil, and my drink.’
6That is why I am going to block her path with thorn bushes, and build a stone wall to stop her so she won't find her way. 7When she runs after her lovers she won't catch up with them; she'll look for them but she won't find them. Then she'll say, ‘Let me go back to my former husband, because it was better for me then than now.’
8She doesn't consider that it was me who gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil, nor the silver and the gold which I gave her abundantly that they made into an idol of Baal. 9So I will take back my ripened grain and my new wine I gave at harvest-time. I will take back my wool and my flax I provided to cover her nakedness. 10I will strip her naked while her lovers watch; no one will be able to rescue her from me. 11I will put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.#2:11. While the celebrations mentioned are all part of the religious calendar, it seems that they had become an excuse for partying rather than true observance. 12I will destroy her vines and fig trees that she said were given to her as payment for being a prostitute. I will turn them into scrub-land; only wild animals will eat the remaining fruit. 13I will punish her for all the times she offered incense to Baal, dressing herself up, putting on rings and jewelry, going after her lovers, but forgetting about me, declares the Lord.
14See what I'm going to do! I will win her back, taking her into the desert where I will speak to her heart-to-heart. 15There I will return her vineyards to her and make the Valley of Achor#2:15. “Achor” means “trouble.” See Joshua 7:26. a door of hope. There she will respond to me as she did when she was young, as in the time when she left the land of Egypt. 16Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’#2:16. “My Baal” would normally be translated as “my lord,” but since the context is that of Israel following pagan religions who called their various gods “Baal” then this is more appropriate here. In addition, God wants the close relationship of being Israel's husband rather than simply her Lord. 17I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.
18At that time I will make a solemn agreement#2:18. Or “covenant.” Here it implies that these creatures will not hurt the people of Israel. with the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. I will do away with the bow and the sword; I will abolish war from the land so you can lie down in safety. 19I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy. 20I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as the Lord. 21On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth.#2:21. This is usually understood to mean that the clouds will give rain to the earth. 22The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows). 23I will ‘sow’ her for myself in the earth. I will love Lo-ruhamah (unloved) and I will say ‘You are my people’ to Lo-ammi (not my people), and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Hoshĕa (Hosea) 2
2
1“Say to your brothers, ‘O my people,’ and to your sisters, ‘O, compassioned one.’
2“Strive with your mother, strive, for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her whorings from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts,
3lest I strip her naked, and shall set her up as on the day she was born, and shall make her like a wilderness, and shall set her like a dry land, and shall put her to death with thirst.
4“And I shall not have compassion on her children, for they are the children of whorings.
5“For their mother has whored, she who conceived them has acted shamelessly. For she said, ‘I go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’
6“Therefore, see, I am hedging up your way with thorns, and I shall wall her in, so that she does not find her paths.
7“And she shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and shall seek them but not find them. Then she shall say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.’
8“And she did not acknowledge that I gave her grain, and new wine, and oil, and increased her silver and gold which they prepared for Ba‛al.
9“Therefore I shall turn back and shall take my grain in its time and My new wine in its appointed time, and I shall take away My wool and My linen covering her nakedness.
10“And now I shall uncover her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her from My hand.
11“And I shall cause all her rejoicing, her festivals, her New Moons, and her Sabbaths, even all her appointed times, to cease,
12and lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, ‘these are my harlot-fees that my lovers have given me.’ And I shall make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13“And I shall punish her for the days of the Ba‛als to which she burned incense and adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot Me,” declares יהוה.
14“Therefore, see, I am alluring her, and shall lead her into the wilderness, and shall speak to her heart,
15and give to her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Aḵor as a door of expectation. And there she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Mitsrayim.
16“And it shall be, in that day,” declares יהוה, “that you call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Ba‛al.’
17“And I shall remove the names of the Ba‛als from her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18“And in that day I shall make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping creatures of the ground, when bow, and sword, and battle I break from the earth. And I shall make them lie down in safety.
19“And I shall take you as a bride unto Me forever, and take you as a bride unto Me in righteousness, and in right-ruling, and loving-commitment and compassion.
20“And I shall take you as a bride unto Me in trustworthiness, and you shall know יהוה.
21“And it shall be in that day that I answer,” declares יהוה, “that I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth,
22and the earth answer the grain and the new wine and the oil, and they answer Yizre‛ĕl.
23“And I shall sow her for Myself in the earth, and I shall have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion. And I shall say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people,’ while they say, ‘My Elohim!’ ”
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