Through My Bible Yr 03 – August 04

Hosea 1 – 2

Through My Bible – August 04

Hosea 1 – 2 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Hosea’s Wife and Children

Hosea 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Be’eri, [1] in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, the king of Israel.

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go. Take for yourself an immoral wife and children produced by sexual immorality, [2] because the land has been committing flagrant immorality, turning away from the Lord.”

3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and gave birth to a son for him.

4 The Lord said to him, “Name him Jezre’el, [3] because in a little while I will inflict punishment on the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezre’el. I will destroy the ruling power of the house of Israel. 5 In that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezre’el.”

6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.

The Lord said to him, “Name her Lo Ruhamah, [4] because I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. Indeed, I will certainly not forgive them. 7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah. I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.” [5]

8 Gomer weaned Lo Ruhamah. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son.

9 The Lord said, “Name him Lo Ammi, [6] because you are not my people, and I will not be the Lord for you.” [7]

A Promise of Future Blessing

10 Nevertheless, the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. Then, in the place where they were told, “You are not my people,” they will be told, “You are children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint one head for themselves, and they will go up from the land, for the day of Jezre’el will be great. [8]

Hosea 2

1 Say to your brothers, “My people,” [9]
and to your sisters, “She has been shown mercy.” [10]

Israel Rebuked, Punished, and Restored

2 Plead with [11] your mother!
    Plead with her, because she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
    Let her put away her sexual immorality from her presence
    and her acts of adultery from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked
    and expose her as she was on the day she was born.
    I will make her like a wilderness.
    I will cause her to be like a dry land.
    I will cause her to die of thirst.
4 I will have no compassion on her children,
    because they are children of promiscuity,
5 because their mother has been promiscuous. [12]
    She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
    She said, “I will chase after my lovers,
        the ones who give me my food and my water,
        my wool and my flax, my olive oil and my drinks.”
6 Therefore, this is what I will do:
    I will block your [13] way with thorns.
    I will build a wall against her,
    so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will chase after her lovers,
    but she will not reach them.
    She will seek them,
    but she will not find them.
    She will say, “I will go back to my first husband,
    because then it was better for me than it is now.”
8 But she would not acknowledge that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.
    I gave her large amounts of silver and gold—her people used it for Baal!
9 That is why I will take back my grain during harvest time,
    and my new wine in its season.
    I will also take away my wool and my flax that were given to cover her nakedness.
10 Then I will expose her shameful nakedness in the sight of her lovers.
    No one will deliver her from my hand.
11 I will put an end to all her celebration:
    her pilgrimage festivals, [14] her monthly new moons, and her weekly Sabbaths—
    all her appointed festivals.
12 I will devastate her vines and her fig trees,
    about which she said, “These are the payment [15] that my lovers gave me.”
    I will make them into a scrub forest,
    and the wild animals will eat the crops.
13 I will punish her for the days with the Baals, on which she repeatedly offered incense to them.
    She adorned herself with her rings [16] and her jewelry,
    and then she chased after her lovers,
    and she forgot me, declares the Lord.
14 But watch! I am going to court her.
    I will bring her into the wilderness.
    I will speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her.
    The Valley of Achor [17] will be a door of hope.
    She will respond there as in the days of her youth,
    as in the day she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 In that day, declares the Lord, this is what will take place:
    You will call me “my husband.”
    You will no longer call me “my master.” [18]
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth.
    She will no longer call them by their names. [19]
18 In that day I will make a covenant for the Israelites with the wild animals, with the birds of the sky and the things that creep on the ground.
    I will break the bow and the sword.
    I will abolish war from the land.
    I will allow the people to lie down safely. [20]
19 I will pledge you to myself in marriage forever.
    I will pledge you to myself in marriage—
    with righteousness, justice, mercy, and compassion.
20 In faithfulness I will pledge you to myself in marriage,
    and you will know the Lord.
21 In that day this is what will happen:
    I will respond, declares the Lord.
    I will respond to the heavens,
    and they will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.
    They will respond to Jezre’el.
23 I will sow her for myself in the land.
    I will have compassion for Lo Ruhamah, [21]
    and I will tell Lo Ammi, [22] “You are my people,”
    and he will say, “You are my God!”

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 1:1 The stop mark ′ indicates that Be’er – should be pronounced as two syllables.
  2. Hosea 1:2 Or prostitution. The Hebrew term includes paid prostitution, but it also includes promiscuous sexual immorality which is not done for money. It also includes sexual misconduct by perpetrators who pay their lovers instead of the other way around.
  3. Hosea 1:4 Jezre’el means God sows, and it is the name of both a valley and a city in Israel. Ahab and Jezebel murdered Naboth at the city of Jezre’e l, and Jehu destroyed the dynasty of Ahab there.
  4. Hosea 1:6 The Hebrew name Lo Ruhamah means no compassion or no pity.
  5. Hosea 1:7 Or charioteers
  6. Hosea 1:9 The Hebrew name Lo Ammi means not my people.
  7. Hosea 1:9 The Hebrew reads I am not I am for you, an allusion to the Lord’s gracious name, I am.
  8. Hosea 1:11 English verses 1:10-11 are verses 2:1-2 in the Hebrew text. All the subsequent verse numbers in chapter 2 are two numbers lower in English than they are in Hebrew.
  9. Hosea 2:1 Hebrew Ammi
  10. Hosea 2:1 Hebrew Ruhamah
  11. Hosea 2:2 Or bring charges against. Also in the next line.
  12. Hosea 2:5 Or been a prostitute or acted like a prostitute
  13. Hosea 2:6 Your is the reading of the Hebrew. The Greek and Syriac read her.
  14. Hosea 2:11 That is, Passover, Pentecost, and Shelters
  15. Hosea 2:12 Or gifts
  16. Hosea 2:13 Either earrings or nose rings
  17. Hosea 2:15 Valley of Achor means Valley of Trouble. It refers to the location of the incident caused by Achan in Joshua 7.
  18. Hosea 2:16 Hebrew my baal
  19. Hosea 2:17 Or call on their names
  20. Hosea 2:18 Or securely
  21. Hosea 2:23 The Hebrew name Lo Ruhamah means no compassion.
  22. Hosea 2:23 The Hebrew name Lo Ammi means not my people.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.