Hosea 2:4
2 Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.
I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.
5 For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.
- KJV
- And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
- WEB
- Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy, for they are children of unfaithfulness.
- ASV
- Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;
- DARBY
- And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are the children of whoredoms.
- BLB
- And I will not show compassion [to] her children, for they [are] sons of prostitution.
- ÅB
- Og hennes barn vil jeg ikke miskunne meg over; for de er horebarn.
- OTB
- Jeg vil ikke vise medlidenhet med hennes barn, fordi de er barn av hor.
- B1930
- Og hennes barn vil jeg ikke miskunne mig over; for de er horebarn.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ezekiel 8:18
Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”
Read in contextJames 2:13
For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Read in contextHosea 1:2
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”
Read in contextJeremiah 13:14
I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
Read in contextHosea 1:6
Gomer again conceived and gave birth to a daughter, and the LORD said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them.
Read in contextJeremiah 16:5
Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.
Read in contextEzekiel 9:10
But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”
Read in contextRomans 11:22
Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Read in context