Hosea 1:2
in Hosea 1When 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.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When Jehovah spake at the first by Hosea, Jehovah said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom; for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from Jehovah.
KJV
The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
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This verse in Hosea 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA wife of whoredoms - That is, says Newcome, a wife from among the Israelites, who were remarkable for spiritual fornication, or idolatry. God calls himself the husband of Israel; and this chosen nation owed him the fidelity of a wife. See Exo 34:15; Deu 31:16; Jdg 2:17; Isa 54:5; Jer 3:14; Jer 31:32, Eze 16:17; Eze 23:5, Eze 23:27; Hosea 2, Hos 5:1-15; Rev 17:1, Rev 17:
This site's exposition
Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms
on Hosea 1:2-3
The command itself is the first sermon: Hosea is told to marry a wife of whoredoms because the land has committed great whoredom in departing from the Lord, the marriage acting out the nation's own unfaithfulness before a word of rebuke is spoken. The commentators divide on whether Gomer was already given to harlotry when Hosea took her or whether the whoredom names what she would become, with Calvin and the older writers generally reading the marriage as a real event rather than a parable staged only in vision. Bought or married, Gomer the daughter of Diblaim is treated by the text with the plainness of a family record, and the son she bears opens the naming that carries the rest of the chapter.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
By the law the prophet was allowed to take a woman into the marriage relationship, and on marrying her he probably brought her to chaste ways. In fact, while everyone could not but be surprised that a man who was very conscious of propriety should …
Likewise the Lord of all had bade Hosea also, therefore, marry a loose woman so as by the event to charge the people with impiety and give evidence of his characteristic longsuffering. If the God of all put up with the loose and adulterous synagogue, …
The beginning of the speech of the Lord (in Greek "Domini" and in the Vulgate "Domino") is in Hosea. LXX: "The beginning of the word of the Lord to Hosea." As we said above, they are preferred to other prophets in the title, Ozias, Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias, to whom they prophesied while ruling. Therefore, he now says that among all these, the Lord spoke first in Hosea, and later to the others. But to speak of the Lord in Hosea is one thing, and to speak to Hosea is another.
We should not blame the prophet if he converted a prostitute to virtue, but we should rather praise him because he turned a bad woman into a good one.… Hence we understand that it was not the prophet who lost virtue by joining with a prostitute, but rather the latter gained virtue that she never had before.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Against conjugal chastity it is objected: every act and movement that alienates from God is foreign to virtue: but the act of conjugal continence is such: therefore it is foreign to virtue. Proof of the middle term: Hosea 1; the Gloss: "Just as wine intoxicates …
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Gomer is called "a wife of whoredoms," anticipatively. children of whoredoms--The kingdom collectively is viewed as a mother; the individual subjects of it are spoken of as her children.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea or in Hosea - God first revealed Himself and His mysteries to the prophet’s soul, by His secret inspiration, and then declared, through him, to others, what He had deposited in him. God enlightened him, and then others through the light in him. And the Lord said unto Hosea - For this thing was to be done by Hosea alone, because God had commanded it, not by others of their own mind. To Isaiah God first revealed Himself, as sitting in the temple, adored by the Seraphim: to Ezekiel God first appeared, as enthroned above the cherubim in the holy of holies; to Jeremiah God announced that, ere yet he was born, He had sanctified him for this office: to Hosea He enjoined, as the beginning of his prophetic office, an act contrary to man’s natural feelings, yet one, by which he became an image of the Redeemer, uniting to Himself what was unholy, in order to make it holy. Go take unto thee - Since Hosea prophesied some eighty years, he must now have been in early youth, holy, pure, as became a prophet of God. Being called thus early, he had doubtless been formed by God as a chosen instrument of His will, and had, like Samuel, from his first childhood, been trained in true piety and holiness. Yet he was to unite unto him, so long as she lived, one greatly defiled, in order to win her thereby to purity and holiness; herein, a little likeness of our Blessed Lord, who, in the Virgin’s womb, to save us, espoused our flesh, in us sinful, in Him all-holy, without motion to sin; and, further, espoused the Church, formed of us who, “whether Jews or Gentiles,” were all under sin, aliens from God and gone away from Him, “serving divers lusts and passions Eph 5:27, to make it a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle.” A wife of whoredoms - i. e., take as a wife, one who up to that time had again and again been guilty of that sin. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
At the beginning of the Lord’s speaking to Hosea Lit. in the beginning the Lord spoke to Hosea. Therefore, our Rabbis stated: The first of the four prophets who prophesied (in these days): Hosea, Isaiah, Amos, and Micah. [Parshandatha reads: in the days of Uzziah.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, etc. He buried these four kings during his lifetime, for he outlived them all.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
21 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּחִלַּ֥ת | techilat | [the] beginning | H8462 → | |
| דִּבֶּר־ | diber- | <of> [when] he spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּהוֹשֵׁ֑עַ פ | behoshea' | by Hosea | H1954 → | 16 times |
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֜ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הוֹשֵׁ֗עַ | hoshea' | Hosea | H1954 → | 16 times |
| לֵ֣ךְ | lekh | go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| קַח־ | kach- | take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| לְךָ֞ | lekha | for yourself | ||
| אֵ֤שֶׁת | ʾeshet | a wife of | H802 → | 781 times |
| זְנוּנִים֙ | zenunim | prostitution<s> | H2183 → | 12 times |
| וְיַלְדֵ֣י | veyaldei | and children of | H3206 → | |
| זְנוּנִ֔ים | zenunim | prostitution<s> | H2183 → | 12 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| זָנֹ֤ה | zanoh | continually <prostitute itself> | H2181 → | 94 times |
| תִזְנֶה֙ | tizneh | it prostitutes itself | H2181 → | 94 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מֵֽאַחֲרֵ֖י | meacharei | from after | H310 → | 715 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
תְּחִלַּ֥ת[the] beginning
techilatH8462 →
דִּבֶּר־<of> [when] he spoke
diber-H1696 →1141 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּהוֹשֵׁ֑עַ פby Hosea
behoshea'H1954 →16 times
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֜הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הוֹשֵׁ֗עַHosea
hoshea'H1954 →16 times
לֵ֣ךְgo
lekhH1980 →1546 times
קַח־take
kach-H3947 →966 times
לְךָ֞for yourself
lekha
אֵ֤שֶׁתa wife of
ʾeshetH802 →781 times
זְנוּנִים֙prostitution<s>
zenunimH2183 →12 times
וְיַלְדֵ֣יand children of
veyaldeiH3206 →
זְנוּנִ֔יםprostitution<s>
zenunimH2183 →12 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
זָנֹ֤הcontinually <prostitute itself>
zanohH2181 →94 times
תִזְנֶה֙it prostitutes itself
tiznehH2181 →94 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
מֵֽאַחֲרֵ֖יfrom after
meachareiH310 →715 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Peter 2:14Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 2:3
In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
- 2 Peter 2:18
With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
- Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- 2 Peter 3:16
He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest…
- 2 Peter 2:3
Through
Deuteronomy 31:16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will…
it leads to
- Judges 10:6
And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus…
- Judges 10:13
But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
- Judges 2:12
Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down…
- Exodus 34:15
Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
- Judges 10:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 3; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 1:2; Jerome, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:2 and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:2.