Hosea 2:5
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.
4 I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.
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.
7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’
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
- 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.’
- KJV
- For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
- WEB
- 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.’
- ASV
- for their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
- DARBY
- For their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
- BLB
- For their mother has been a prostitute; she who conceived them has acted shamefully, for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, those giving [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’
- ÅB
- For deres mor har drevet hor, hun som fødte dem, har båret seg skammelig at - hun sa: Jeg vil gå etter mine elskere, de som gir meg mitt brød og mitt vann, min ull og mitt lin, min olje og min vin.
- OTB
- Deres mor har vært utro og har unnfanget dem i skam. Hun sa: ‘Jeg vil forfølge mine elskere, som gir meg mitt brød og mitt vann, min ull og mitt lin, min olje og min drikk.’
- B1930
- For deres mor har drevet hor, hun som fødte dem, har båret sig skammelig at - hun sa: Jeg vil gå efter mine elskere, de som gir mig mitt brød og mitt vann, min ull og mitt lin, min olje og min vin.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 44:17–18
Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
Read in contextHosea 3:1
Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.”
Read in contextIsaiah 1:21
See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!
Read in contextHosea 2:8
For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold— which they crafted for Baal.
Read in contextJeremiah 3:1–9
“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers— and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
Read in contextHosea 2:12–13
I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.
Read in contextHosea 2:2
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.
Read in contextJeremiah 2:25–27
You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
Read in context