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Hosea 2

1 - "Say to your brothers, 'My people!'and to your sisters, 'My loved one!'
2 - 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;
3 - 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.
4 - Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy;for they are children of unfaithfulness;
5 - 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.'
6 - Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns,and I will build a wall against her,that she can't find her way.
7 - 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 was it better with me than now.'
8 - For she did not 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.
9 - 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.
10 - Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
11 - I will also cause all her celebrations to cease:her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
12 - 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.
13 - 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.
14 - "Therefore behold, I will allure her,and bring her into the wilderness,and speak tenderly to her.
15 - 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.
16 - It will be in that day," says The LORD,"that you will call me 'my husband,'and no longer call me 'my master.'
17 - For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth,and they will no longer be mentioned by name.
18 - 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.
19 - I will betroth you to me forever.Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.
20 - I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness;and you shall know The LORD.
21 - It will happen in that day, I will respond," says The LORD,"I will respond to the heavens,and they will respond to the earth;
22 - and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil;and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 - 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, 'My God!'"
Hosea Images and Notes

The Book of Hosea

Hosea 8:7-9 - For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

Hosea 14:9 - Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD [are] right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Bible Survey - Hosea
Hebrew Name - Hoshea "Salvation"
Greek Name - Osee (Greek form of the Hebrew)
Author - Hosea (According to Tradition)
Date - 785 BC Approximately
Theme - The apostasy of Israel
Types and Shadows - In Hosea Jesus is the faithful husband

Summary of The Book of Hosea

The prophet Hosea had a real-life situation that God used to illustrate his problem with the nation of Israel. Hosea's adulterous wife had broken his heart, and this is exactly what the children of Israel had done to God when they played the harlot with other gods. Later when her adulterous affairs had led her to be sold on the slave block, Hosea was willing to buy her back for he could not give her up. This dramatically illustrated Israel's situation for soon they would be conquered by the Assyrians and then sold into slavery because they had forgotten their God. The prophet Hosea spoke about a future blessing in which God will restore Israel. - The above text is © Rusty Russell - Bible History Online and must be sourced for use on a website.

My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? . . . My heart churns within Me; my sympathy is stirred. . . "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him." Hosea 11:7-8, 14:4

The prophet Hosea was commanded by God to marry a wife of harlotry because Israel hath committed great harlotry. He was sent by God to prophesy about the northern King of Israel. Hosea ministered to Israel for a great length of time (over 50 years), and they were his primary target although he does mention four kings of Judah (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah). The northern kingdom of Israel was enjoying tremendous prosperity during the reign of Jeroboam II, yet when he died various kings came to the throne for a brief period of time and then many were assassinated. The problem with the northern kingdom was that they were idolaters, and every one of their kings were evil whether they prospered or not. The people were making sacrifices on heathen altars, adultery was prevalent, and ritualistic prostitution abounded. Hosea attributed their wretchedness to a lack of knowledge, not a lack of  intellectual knowledge, but lacking a relationship with the living God. Yet God loves his people with an everlasting love in spite of their corruption.

The contents of the book may be analyzed further as follows :

Outline of the Book of Hosea

In Hosea 1-3, the faithless actions of Israel toward God are illustrated by the relationship between Hosea and his adultress wife, Gomer. The names of his children indicate the attitude of God toward Israel. The first is named "Jezreel" after the city which was the scene of Jehu's brutality and which signified that God would punish his people. Lo-Ruhamah (Not pitied) and Lo-Ammi (Not my people) are the names given to the two other children, signifying the estrangement which was the inevitable result of the actions of Israel. God's love is illustrated in Hosea's willingness to buy his wife back from the practice of harlotry - though she could not continue in her harlotry while he was with her.

The second division of the prophecy, found in Hosea 4-14, presents a detailed picture of the depths of depravity to which Israel had gone, with alternating passages of reproof, threats of punishment, and assurances of restoration.

The First Day. Light.

Hosea Resources

The Divided Kingdom
The Northern Kingdom of Israel
The Southern Kingdom of Judah
The Assyrian Captivity
The Babylonian Captivity
The Return From Babylon
The Prophets
The Messiah

The Book of Hosea

More About the Book of Hosea
Hosea in the Picture Study Bible
Chart of the Prophets of Israel and Judah
Timeline of the Ancient World
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