Hosea 2 - 5

No Compassion for Children of Harlotry

Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
2

“Contend with your mother, contend,

For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband;

And let her remove her harlotry from her face

And her adultery from between her breasts,

Lest I strip her naked

And set her forth as on the day when she was born

And make her like a wilderness

And make her like dry land

And put her to death with thirst.

Also, I will have no compassion on her children

Because they are children of harlotry.

For their mother has played the harlot;

She who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

Who give me my bread and my water,

My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns,

And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.

So she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;

And she will seek them, but will not find them.

Then she will say, ‘I will go, and I will return to my first husband,

For it was better for me then than now!’

“Now she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

And multiplied silver and gold for her,

Which they used for Baal.

Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time

And My new wine in its season.

I will also deliver My wool and My flax from them

Given to cover her nakedness.

So now I will uncover her lewdness

In the sight of her lovers,

And no one will deliver her out of My hand.

I will also cease all her joy,

Her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,

And all her appointed times.

And I will make desolate her vines and fig trees,

Of which she said, ‘These are my wages

Which my lovers have given me.’

And I will make them a forest,

And the beasts of the field will devour them.

So I will visit the days of the Baals upon her

When she used to offer offerings in smoke to them

And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry

And go after her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares Yahweh.

Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her

And bring her into the wilderness

And speak to her heart.

Then I will give her her vineyards from there

And the valley of Achor as a door of hope.

And she will sing there as in the days of her youth,

As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,

“That you will call Me Ishi

And will no longer call Me Baali.

So I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth

So that they will be remembered by their names no more.

And in that day I will cut a covenant for them

With the beasts of the field,

The birds of the sky,

And the creeping things of the ground.

And I will break the bow, the sword, and war from the land,

And I will make them lie down in security.

And I will betroth you to Me forever;

Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,

In lovingkindness and in compassion,

And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.

Then you will know Yahweh.

“And it will be in that day, that I will answer,” declares Yahweh.

“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,

And the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

And they will answer Jezreel.

And I will sow her for Myself in the land.

I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion,

And I will say to those who were not My people,

‘You are My people!’

And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

Hosea Marries Again

Then Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her companion and is an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2 So I bargained for her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3 Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.” 4 For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king; and they will come in dread to Yahweh and to His goodness in the last days.

Yahweh’s Contention with Israel

Listen to the word of Yahweh, O sons of Israel,

For Yahweh has a contention against the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no truth or lovingkindness

Or knowledge of God in the land.

There is swearing of oaths, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery.

They break forth in violence so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Therefore the land mourns,

And everyone who inhabits it languishes

Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,

And also the fish of the sea disappear.

Yet let no man contend, and let no man offer reproof;

Indeed, your people are like those who contend with the priest.

So you will stumble by day,

And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;

And I will destroy your mother.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from ministering as My priest.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I Myself also will forget your children.

The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me;

I will change their glory into disgrace.

They eat the sin of My people

And lift up their soul toward their iniquity.

And it will be like people, like priest;

So I will punish them for their ways

And cause their deeds to return to them.

They will eat, but not be satisfied;

They will play the harlot, but not break forth in number,

Because they have forsaken Yahweh to keep harlotry.

Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away a heart of wisdom.

My people ask their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand declares to them;

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,

And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.

They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains

And burn incense on the hills,

Under oak, poplar, and terebinth

Because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot,

And your brides commit adultery.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot

Or your brides when they commit adultery,

For the men themselves go apart with harlots

And offer sacrifices with cult prostitutes;

So the people without understanding are ruined.

Though you, Israel, play the harlot,

Do not let Judah become guilty;

Also do not go to Gilgal

Nor go up to Beth‑aven

And swear the oath:

“As Yahweh lives!”

Since Israel is stubborn

Like a stubborn heifer,

Can Yahweh now feed them

Like a lamb in a large field?

Ephraim is joined to idols;

Let him alone.

Their drink gone;

They play the harlot continually;

Their rulers dearly love disgrace.

The wind binds them up in its wings,

And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Yahweh Withdraws from Israel

Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For the judgment is for you,

For you have been a snare at Mizpah

And a net spread out on Tabor.

And the revolters have dug deep into slaughtering,

But I will chastise all of them.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;

For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot;

Israel has defiled itself.

Their deeds will not allow them

To return to their God.

For a spirit of harlotry is within them,

And they do not know Yahweh.

Moreover, the pride of Israel answers against him,

And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

Judah also has stumbled with them.

They will go with their flocks and herds

To seek Yahweh, but they will not find Him;

He has withdrawn from them.

They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh,

For they have borne children of strangers.

Now the new moon will devour them with their portions.

Blow the horn in Gibeah,

The trumpet in Ramah.

Make a loud shout at Beth‑aven:

“Behind you, Benjamin!”

Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of reproof;

Among the tribes of Israel I will make known what is true.

The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary;

On them I will pour out My wrath like water.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

Because he was determined to walk after man’s command.

Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim

And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

Then Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah his sore,

So Ephraim went to Assyria

And sent to King Jareb.

But he is unable to heal you

Or to cure you of your sore.

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim

And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away;

I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.

I will go away and return to My place

Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;

In their affliction they will seek Me earnestly.