The Prophet Hosea

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 2 -

“Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’(a)

(b)

Judge your mother, judge: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her fornications from before her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.(c)

Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.

And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of fornications.

For their mother has been fornicating; she who conceived them has been brought to ruin. 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.’

Because of this, behold, I will fence in your way with thorns, and I will surround it with a wall, and she will not find her paths.

And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not obtain them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was to some extent better for me then, than it is now.’

And she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into Baal.(d)

For this reason, I will turn back, and I will take away my grain in its time and my wine in its time, and I will set free my wool and my flax, which had covered her disgrace.

And now, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my hand.

And I will cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her feast dates.

And I will corrupt her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These rewards, they are mine, my lovers have given them to me.’ And I will place her in a narrow forest, and the beasts of the field will devour her.

And I will inflict on her the days of the Baals, for whom she burned incense, and ornamented herself with earrings and necklace, and went after her lovers, and forgot about me,” says the Lord.

God’s Mercy to Israel

“Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.(e)

(f)

And I will give to her, from the same place, her vinedressers, and the valley of Achor as a passage of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days of her ascension from the land of Egypt.

And it will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’(g)

(h)

And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.(i)

And in that day, I will strike a deal with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creatures of the earth. And I will crush the bow and the sword, and I will wipe away war from the earth. And I will let them sleep securely.(j)

(k)

And I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.(l)

And I will wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.

And this will happen in that day: I will listen closely,” says the Lord. “I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth.(m)

And the land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.

And I will plant her for me in the land, and I will have mercy on her, though she had been called Without Mercy.

And I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”(n)

Footnotes

(a)2:1 Or, ‘you have caught up with mercy,’ or, ‘you have overtaken mercy.’(Conte)

(b)2:1 Say to your brethren, etc:or, Call your brethren, My people: and your sister, Her that has obtained mercy. This is connected with the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and relates to the converts of Israel.(Challoner)

(d)2:8 They made silver and gold into a false god (Baal).(Conte)

(e)2:14 Or, ‘lead her into solitude.’(Conte)

(f)2:14 I will allure her, etc:After all her disloyalties, I will still allure her by my grace etc., and send her vinedressers, viz., the apostles: originally her own children, who shall open to her the gates of hope; as heretofore at her coming into the land of promise, she had all good success after she had satisfied the divine justice by the execution of Achan in the valley of Achor. Jos. 7.(Challoner)

(g)2:16 In Hebrew, ‘i’ at the end of a word can signify ‘my,’ as in ‘Eli, Eli,’ (my God, my God). Therefore, the translation is ‘My Baal.’(Conte)

(h)2:16 My husband:In Hebrew, Ishi. Baali, my lord. The meaning of this verse is: that whereas Ishi and Baali were used indifferently in those days by wives speaking to their husbands; the synagogue, whom God was pleased to consider as his spouse, should call him only Ishi, and abstain from the name of Baali, because of its affinity with the idol Baal.(Challoner)

(i)2:17 Baalim:It is the plural number of Baal: for there were divers idols of Baal.(Challoner)

(j)2:18 The phrase ‘in that day’ can also be translated as ‘on that day.’ The phrase can refer to one particular day, or to a general period of time (using the word ‘day’ metaphorically).(Conte)

(k)2:18 Also, the word ‘conteram’ occurs only once in this verse, but in translation it is repeated using two different English verbs: ‘to crush’ bows and swords, and ‘to wipe away’ war from the earth. The different context of destroying weapons and removing war itself calls for different English words to translate the same Latin verb.(Conte)

(l)2:19 I will espouse you, etc:This relates to the happy espousals of Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved.(Challoner)

(m)2:21 Hear the heavens, etc:All shall conspire in favour of the church, which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of God.(Challoner)

(n)2:24 That which was not my people, etc:This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles.(Challoner)

“Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’(a) and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’(b)

Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy, for they are children of unfaithfulness.

For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done 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,(c) I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.

She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’

For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

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 cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field shall eat them.

I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says the LORD.

God’s Mercy to Israel

“Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

It will be in that day,” says the LORD, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’

For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.

It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;

and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.

I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My God!’”

Footnotes

(a)2:1 ‘Ammi’ in Hebrew

(b)2:1 ‘Ruhamah’ in Hebrew

(c)2:6 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.