Hosea 2:5
in Hosea 2For 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.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
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.
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.
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This verse in Hosea 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
She that conceived them hath done shamefully, literally, hath made shameful - The silence as to “what” she “made shameful” is more emphatic than any words. She “made shameful” everything which she could “make shameful,” her acts, her children, and herself. I will go after my lovers - (:iterally let me go, I would go). The Hebrew word “Meahabim” denotes intense passionate love; the plural form implies that they were sinful loves. Every word aggravates the shamelessness.
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 Fathers3 voices
They, therefore, who are wicked, evildoers, carnal, fleshly, devilish, think that they receive at the hands of their seducers what are the gifts of God alone, whether sacraments, or any spiritual workings about present salvation. But these men have not love towards God, but are busied about those by whose pride they are led astray, and are compared to the adulterous woman, whom the prophet introduces as saying, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, and my oil, and everything that befits me." For thus arise heresies and schisms, when the fleshly people which is not founded on the love of God says, "I will go after my lovers," with whom, either by corruption of her faith, or by the puffing up of her pride, she shamefully commits adultery. But for the sake of those who, having undergone the difficulties, and straits, and barriers of the empty reasoning of those by whom they are led astray, afterwards feel the prickings of fear, and return to the way of peace, to seeking God in all sincerity,—for their sake He goes on to say, "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them: and she shall seek them, but she shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now." Then, that they may not attribute to their seducers what they have that is sound, and derived from the doctrine of truth, by which they lead them astray to the falseness of their own dogmas and dissensions; that they may not think that what is sound in them belongs to them, he immediately added, "And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her money; but she made vessels of gold and silver for Baal."
"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.
Who is that adulterous woman whom the prophet Hosea points out, who said, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, and everything that befits me?" Let us grant that we may understand this also of the people of the Jews that went astray; yet whom else are the false Christians (such as are all heretics and schismatics) wont to imitate, except false Israelites?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The Chaldee understands it of the nations whose alliance Israel courted and depended upon, who supplied them with what they needed. But it is rather to be understood of the idols they worshipped, to justify their love of which they called them their lovers. See who do shamefully; those that are wilful and resolute in sin, and those that openly profess and own their resolution to go on in it.
"It is my corn and my wine." God will have us to know, not only that we have all our creature-comforts and enjoyments from him, but that he has still an incontestable right and title to them, that they are more his than ours, and therefore are to be used for him, and accounted for to him.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
10 ) and idolatry is a shameful thing. It is not only an affront to God, but a reproach to men, to fall down to the stock of a tree, as the prophet speaks. Or it denotes that the sinner was shameless, impudent in sin, and could not blush;
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For their mother hath played the harlot,.... Or committed idolatry; which is the reason why she is to be pleaded with, and why the Lord will not own her as his wife, or be a husband to her; and why she is to be exhorted to put away her whoredoms from her; and was in danger of all the above evils coming upon her, continuing in the same practice; and why her children were children of whoredoms.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now." Hosea 2:5-7.
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. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now." Hosea 2:5-7. GREAT and grievous was the apostasy of the seed of Abraham from the Lord their God. They had been chosen by special Grace from among all people and had the high honor to receive the oracles of God—yet they were bent on backsliding from God and were unfaithful to the Most High. The gods of the surrounding heathen were constantly a snare to them and they forsook the only living and true God to prostrate themselves before blocks of wood and stone. Though chastened a thousand times they learned nothing by the rod. And though as frequently forgiven and visited with mercy, the holy bonds of gratitude did not bind them to their God. As an abandoned woman leaves a kind and tender husband for the base love of the vilest of the vile, even so both Israel and Judah played the harlot towards the Lord who had espoused them in infinite love. Yet God has not even now written a bill of divorcement, or cast away the people whom He did foreknow. Through eighteen hundred years the sons of Israel have had to wander to and fro without a settled dwelling place, yet God has not utterly given them up or broken His Covenant with them. For the day shall come when Israel shall return, when again she shall be called Hephzibah, and her land Beulah.
That give me my bread - See the note on Jer 44:17-18 (note), where nearly the same words are found and illustrated.
The words behind it
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| זָֽנְתָה֙ | zanetah | she has prostituted herself | H2181 → | 94 times |
| אִמָּ֔ם | ʾimam | mother their | H517 → | 220 times |
| הֹבִ֖ישָׁה | hovishah | she has acted shamefully | H954 → | 127 times |
| הֽוֹרָתָ֑ם | horatam | [the] [one who] conceived them | H2029 → | 43 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָמְרָ֗ה | ʾamerah | she said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלְכָ֞ה | ʾelekhah | I will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אַחֲרֵ֤י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| מְאַהֲבַי֙ | meahavai | lovers my | H157 → | 211 times |
| נֹתְנֵ֤י | notenei | [who] give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לַחְמִי֙ | lachmi | <of> food my | H3899 → | 298 times |
| וּמֵימַ֔י | umeimai | and water my | H4325 → | 581 times |
| צַמְרִ֣י | tzamri | wool my | H6785 → | |
| וּפִשְׁתִּ֔י | ufishti | and flax my | H6593 → | |
| שַׁמְנִ֖י | shamni | oil my | H8081 → | |
| וְשִׁקּוּיָֽי׃ | veshikuyai | and drinks my | H8250 → |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
זָֽנְתָה֙she has prostituted herself
zanetahH2181 →94 times
אִמָּ֔םmother their
ʾimamH517 →220 times
הֹבִ֖ישָׁהshe has acted shamefully
hovishahH954 →127 times
הֽוֹרָתָ֑ם[the] [one who] conceived them
horatamH2029 →43 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אָמְרָ֗הshe said
ʾamerahH559 →5305 times
אֵלְכָ֞הI will go
ʾelekhahH1980 →1546 times
אַחֲרֵ֤יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
מְאַהֲבַי֙lovers my
meahavaiH157 →211 times
נֹתְנֵ֤י[who] give
noteneiH5414 →2011 times
לַחְמִי֙<of> food my
lachmiH3899 →298 times
וּמֵימַ֔יand water my
umeimaiH4325 →581 times
צַמְרִ֣יwool my
tzamriH6785 →
וּפִשְׁתִּ֔יand flax my
ufishtiH6593 →
שַׁמְנִ֖יoil my
shamniH8081 →
וְשִׁקּוּיָֽי׃and drinks my
veshikuyaiH8250 →
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 2:8For 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.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:3
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
- Romans 1:28
Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
- Ezekiel 16:16–19
You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!
- Isaiah 1:3
Through
Hosea 3:1Then 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…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 3:12–14
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be…
- Micah 7:18–20
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Isaiah 45:22
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Jeremiah 31:20
Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares…
- Hosea 1:2–3
When 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.”
- Jeremiah 3:12–14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Hosea
This page draws on 9 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); Augustine of Hippo, ON BAPTISM 3:27; Augustine of Hippo, ON BAPTISM 3:26; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 590: “The Backslider'S Way Hedged Up” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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.