Hosea 2:1
in Hosea 2“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
KJV
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru–hamah.
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This verse in Hosea 2
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"Tell your brothers and sisters, my people, that they have attained mercy." LXX: "Say to your brother, my people, and to your sister, having obtained mercy." Because the day of Jezrael is great, on which Judas and Israel will have one prince, and it will not be said of Israel, "you are not my people," but on the contrary they will be called the children of the living God.
This site's exposition
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi
The chapter opens by reversing the names chapter 1 closed, brethren addressed as Ammi, my people, and sisters as Ruhamah, pitied, the same names that had sentenced the nation now sent out as a plea to the very people they once condemned. The commentators read the verse as a bridge rather than a fresh oracle, the promise of 1:10 turned into an appeal the remnant is told to make to one another before the lawsuit that fills the rest of the chapter is heard. Judgment and restoration stand beside each other from the first verse, the reversal named before the charge against the mother is even brought.
The record, by era
The Reformation1 voice
This then is what the Prophet means by saying, Say ye to your brethren, my omi, and to your sisters rvchmh ruchamah; that is, since I have promised to be propitious to you, you can now safely testify this to one another.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Note, Our relation to God and dependence on him are a great aggravation of our revolts from him and rebellions against him. They must, in God's name, charge her with the violation of the marriage-covenant between her and God.
Let those that had not bowed the knee to Baal reason the case with those that had, and endeavour to convince them with such arguments as are here put into their mouths. Note, Private persons may, and ought in their places, to appear and plead against the public profanations of God's name and worship.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi - that is, “My people, and to your sisters, Ruhamah,” i. e., “beloved or tenderly pitied.” The words form a climax of the love of God. First, the people scattered , unpitied , and disowned by God , is re-born of God; then it is declared to be in continued relation to God, “My people;” then to be the object of his yearning love.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Say . . . unto . . . brethren, Ammi, &c.--that is, When the prediction (Ho 1:11) shall be accomplished, then ye will call one another, as brothers and sisters in the family of God, Ammi and Ruhamah.
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi - I prefer the interpretation of these proper names. Say ye unto your brethren, My People; and, to your sisters, who have Obtained Mercy.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And the number..shall be What is the connection of retribution and consolation juxtaposed in one speech? Our Rabbis explained in Pesachim (87b): Hosea felt that he had sinned by saying, “Exchange them for another nation.” He stood and begged mercy for them (See above:2).
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
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִמְר֥וּ | ʾimru | say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לַאֲחֵיכֶ֖ם | laacheikhem | to brothers your | H251 → | 630 times |
| עַמִּ֑י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְלַאֲחֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם | velaachoteikhem | and to sisters your | H269 → | |
| רֻחָֽמָה׃ | ruchamah | she is Shown Compassion | H7355 → | 47 times |
אִמְר֥וּsay
ʾimruH559 →5305 times
לַאֲחֵיכֶ֖םto brothers your
laacheikhemH251 →630 times
עַמִּ֑יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
וְלַאֲחֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖םand to sisters your
velaachoteikhemH269 →
רֻחָֽמָה׃she is Shown Compassion
ruchamahH7355 →47 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
Hosea 2:23And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they…
it leads to
- Romans 9:25–26
As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 1:9–10
And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Peter 2:9–10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Zechariah 13:9
This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They…
- Romans 3:29
Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
- Romans 9:25–26
Through
1 Peter 2:10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
it leads to
- Hosea 2:23
And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they…
- Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
- Hosea 2:23
Through
Ezekiel 37:27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will…
- Revelation 21:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Hosea
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 2:1; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.