Hosea 2:4
in Hosea 2I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;
KJV
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
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This verse in Hosea 2
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will not have mercy upon her children - God visits the sins of the parents upon the children, until the entailed curse be cut off by repentance. God enforces His own word “lo-ruhamah, Unpitied,” by repeating it here, “lo-arahem,” “I will not pity.” Reproaches, which fall upon the mother, are ever felt with special keenness.
This site's exposition
I will not have mercy upon her children
on Hosea 2:4-5
The children inherit the mother's charge, called children of whoredoms because they were conceived of it, and the mother's own words are quoted as evidence against her, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water. The commentators point out the everyday domestic language, bread, water, wool, flax, oil, drink, laid over the fertility cult's promise that Baal supplied the harvest, so that idolatry is exposed as thanklessness for ordinary provision rather than merely as false ritual. Her own mouth convicts her, the plea against her built entirely from what she has already said and done.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"And I will not have pity on her sons, for they are the sons of fornication, because their mother has committed fornication: she is confounded that conceived them, because she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me bread, and water, and clothes, and oil, and drink." LXX: "And I will not have mercy on her sons, because they are the children of fornication. For their mother has committed fornication.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
); the particular persons that share in the calamity of the nation, and the rising generation, shall be ruined by it, for they are children of whoredoms, and keep up the vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers. Now it is here threatened that they shall be both stripped and starved.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And I will not have mercy upon her children,.... The posterity of the Jews in succeeding ages, until the time of their conversion comes; they persisting in the sins of their forefathers, filling up the measure of their iniquities; remaining in their obstinate rejection of the Messiah, and in the same impenitence and unbelief, and having his blood imprecated upon them: for they be the children of whoredoms; begotten and born in whoredom, spurious and illegitimate; or that commit whoredoms; imitate their parents; are guilty of the same vices; a generation of vipers.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They be the children of whoredoms - They are all idolaters; and have been consecrated to idols, whose marks they bear.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בָּנֶ֖יהָ | baneiha | children her | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֲרַחֵ֑ם | ʾarachem | I will have compassion on | H7355 → | 47 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בְנֵ֥י | venei | [are] children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| זְנוּנִ֖ים | zenunim | prostitution<s> | H2183 → | 12 times |
| הֵֽמָּה׃ | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
בָּנֶ֖יהָchildren her
baneihaH1121 →4930 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
אֲרַחֵ֑םI will have compassion on
ʾarachemH7355 →47 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
בְנֵ֥י[are] children of
veneiH1121 →4930 times
זְנוּנִ֖יםprostitution<s>
zenunimH2183 →12 times
הֵֽמָּה׃they
hemahH1992 →553 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
Jeremiah 16:5Indeed, 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…
it leads to
- Isaiah 27:11
When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 24:16–23
“Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not mourn or weep or let your tears flow.
- Isaiah 27:11
Through
Hosea 1:2When 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.”
it leads to
- Hosea 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…
- Hosea 2:4–5
I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.
- Deuteronomy 31:16
And 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…
- Psalms 106:39
They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
- Hosea 3:1
Through
Ezekiel 9:10But 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.”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 7:4
I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that I am…
- Ezekiel 7:4
Through
Hosea 1:6Gomer 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…
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:10
Once 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.
- 1 Peter 2:10
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); Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 2:4-5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.