Hosea 2
1“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’ 2“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,for she is not my wife,and I am not her husband.Let her remove the adulterous look from her faceand the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3Otherwise I will strip her nakedand make her as bare as on the day she was born;I will make her like a desert,turn her into a parched land,and slay her with thirst. 4I will not show my love to her children,because they are the children of adultery. 5Their mother has been unfaithfuland has conceived them in disgrace.She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,who give me my food and my water,my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’ 6Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 7She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;she will look for them but not find them.Then she will say,‘I will go back to my husband as at first,for then I was better off than now.’ 8She has not acknowledged that I was the onewho gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,who lavished on her the silver and gold—which they used for Baal. 9“Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,and my new wine when it is ready.I will take back my wool and my linen,intended to cover her naked body. 10So now I will expose her lewdnessbefore the eyes of her lovers;no one will take her out of my hands. 11I will stop all her celebrations:her yearly festivals, her New Moons,her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals. 12I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,which she said were her pay from her lovers;I will make them a thicket,and wild animals will devour them. 13I will punish her for the daysshe burned incense to the Baals;she decked herself with rings and jewelry,and went after her lovers,but me she forgot,” declares the Lord. 14“Therefore I am now going to allure her;I will lead her into the wildernessand speak tenderly to her. 15There I will give her back her vineyards,and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.There she will respond as in the days of her youth,as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 16“In that day,” declares the Lord,“you will call me ‘my husband’;you will no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;no longer will their names be invoked. 18In that day I will make a covenant for themwith the beasts of the field, the birds in the skyand the creatures that move along the ground.Bow and sword and battleI will abolish from the land,so that all may lie down in safety. 19I will betroth you to me forever;I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,in love and compassion. 20I will betroth you in faithfulness,and you will acknowledge the Lord. 21“In that day I will respond,”declares the Lord—“I will respond to the skies,and they will respond to the earth; 22and the earth will respond to the grain,the new wine and the olive oil,and they will respond to Jezreel. 23I will plant her for myself in the land;I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
Study Context for Hosea 2
As you study Hosea 2, keep in mind the overarching themes of this old testament book: Unfaithfulness, Love, Restoration. Observe how the specific events or teachings in this chapter contribute to the book's broader message.
UnfaithfulnessLoveRestoration
Observation: What does Hosea 2 reveal about the character and nature of God? What does it reveal about humanity?
Application: How does the truth presented in this chapter change how you should live, think, or pray today?
Study introductions and prompts are supplementary aids, not Scripture. They do not replace prayerful reading, the authority of Scripture, a faithful local church, or pastoral care.
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