Hosea 2:2-13

Hosea 2:2-13

[2] Plead  with your mother,  plead:  for she is not my wife,  neither am I her husband:  let her therefore put away  her whoredoms  out of her sight,  and her adulteries  from between her breasts;  [3] Lest I strip  her naked,  and set  her as in the day  that she was born,  and make  her as a wilderness,  and set  her like a dry  land,  and slay  her with thirst.  [4] And I will not have mercy  upon her children;  of whoredoms.  [5] For their mother  hath played the harlot:  she that conceived  them hath done shamefully:  for she said,  after  my lovers,  that give  me my bread  and my water,  my wool  and my flax,  mine oil  and my drink.  [6] Therefore, behold, I will hedge  up thy way  with thorns,  and make  that she shall not find  her paths.  [7] And she shall follow  after her lovers,  but she shall not overtake  them; and she shall seek  them, but shall not find  them: then shall she say,  and return  to my first  husband;  for then was it better  with me than now.  [8] For she did not know  that I gave  her corn,  and wine,  and oil,  and multiplied  her silver  and gold,  which they prepared  for Baal.  [9] Therefore will I return,  and take away  my corn  in the time  thereof, and my wine  in the season  thereof, and will recover  my wool  and my flax  given to cover  her nakedness.  [10] And now will I discover  her lewdness  in the sight  of her lovers,  and none  shall deliver  her out of mine hand.  [11] I will also cause all her mirth  to cease,  her feast days,  her new moons,  and her sabbaths,  and all her solemn feasts.  [12] And I will destroy  her vines  and her fig trees,  whereof she hath said,  These are my rewards  that my lovers  have given  me: and I will make  them a forest,  and the beasts  of the field  shall eat  them. [13] And I will visit  upon her the days  of Baalim,  wherein she burned incense  to them, and she decked  herself with her earrings  and her jewels,  after  her lovers,  and forgat  me, saith  the LORD. 

What does Hosea 2:2-13 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Two judgment oracles follow. In the first one, Hosea and Gomer"s relationship is primarily in view, but the parallels with Yahweh and Israel"s relationship are obvious. In the second one, it is almost entirely Yahweh and Israel"s relationship that is in view. In both parts the general form of the messages is that of the lawsuit or legal accusation (Heb. rib) based on (Mosaic) covenant violation.