Hosea 1:3
in Hosea 1So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bare him a son.
KJV
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
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This verse in Hosea 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
So he went - He did not demur, nor excuse himself, as did even Moses Exo 4:18, or Jeremiah Jer 1:6, or Peter Act 10:4, and were rebuked for it, although mercifully by the All-Merciful. Hosea, accustomed from childhood to obey God and every indication of the will of God, did at once, what he was bidden, however repulsive to natural feeling, and became, thereby, the more an image of the obedience of Christ Jesus, and a pattern to us, at once to believe and obey God’s commands, however little to our minds.
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 Fathers2 voices
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.
"And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Debelaim: and she conceived and bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel." LXX: "And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim,....
It is especially so in those that have made a profession of religion, and have been taken into covenant with God; it is breaking the marriage-bond; it is a heinous odious sin, and, as much as any thing, besots the mind and takes away the heart.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He went and took Gomer - All this appears to be a real transaction, though having a typical meaning. If he took an Israelite, he must necessarily have taken an idolatress, one who had worshipped the calves of Jeroboam at Dan or at Bethel.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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 ▾
Name him Jezreel Jonathan renders: Call their name the scattered ones. I.e. prophesy over them that they will be exiled, and they will be sown among the peoples.
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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ֙ | vaiyelekh | and he went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וַיִּקַּ֔ח | vaiyikach | and he took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| גֹּ֖מֶר | gomer | Gomer | H1586 → | |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| דִּבְלָ֑יִם | divlayim | Diblaim | H1691 → | |
| וַתַּ֥הַר | vatahar | and she conceived | H2029 → | 43 times |
| וַתֵּֽלֶד־ | vateled- | and she bore | H3205 → | 496 times |
| ל֖וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| בֵּֽן׃ | ben | a son | H1121 → | 4930 times |
וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ֙and he went
vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times
וַיִּקַּ֔חand he took
vaiyikachH3947 →966 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
גֹּ֖מֶרGomer
gomerH1586 →
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
דִּבְלָ֑יִםDiblaim
divlayimH1691 →
וַתַּ֥הַרand she conceived
vataharH2029 →43 times
וַתֵּֽלֶד־and she bore
vateled-H3205 →496 times
ל֖וֹto him
lo
בֵּֽן׃a son
benH1121 →4930 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this chapter
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jerome, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 1:3-4; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.