Oséias 2

¹ Say ye unto yourSeeing that I have promised you deliverance, it remains that you encourage one another to embrace this promise, considering that you are my people on whom I will have mercy.brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

² Plead with yourGod shows that the fault was not in him, that he forsook them, but in their Synagogue, and their idolatries; (Isa_50:1).mother, plead: for she [is] not my wife, neither [am] I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteriesMeaning that their idolatry was so great, that they were not ashamed, but boasted of it; (Eze_16:25).from between her breasts;

³ Lest I strip her naked, andFor even though his people were as a harlot for their idolatries, yet he had left them with their dress and dowry and certain signs of his favour, but if they continued still, he would utterly destroy them.set her as in the day that she wasWhen I brought her out of Egypt. {{See Eze_16:4}}born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

⁴ And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they [be] theThat is bastards, and begotten in adultery.children of whoredoms.

⁵ For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after myMeaning the idol which they served, and by whom they thought they had wealth and abundance.lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

⁶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge upI will punish you so that you may then test whether your idols can help you, and bring you into such straightness that you will have no lust to play the harlot.thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

⁷ 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,This he speaks of the faithful, who are truly converted, and also shows the use and profit of God's punishments.I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it] better with me than now.

⁸ For she did not know that IThis declares that idolaters defraud God of his honour, when they attribute his benefits to their idols.gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, [which] they prepared for Baal.

⁹ Therefore will I return, and take awaySignifying that God will take away his benefits, when man by his ingratitude abuses them.my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax [given] to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰ And now will I discover herThat is, all her service, ceremonies, and inventions by which she worshipped her idols.lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

¹¹ I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast daies, her newe moones, and her Sabbathes, and all her solemne feasts.

¹² And I wil destroy her vines & her figtrees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my louers haue giuen mee: and I will make them as a forest, and the wilde beasts shall eate them.

¹³ And I will visit upon her the days ofI will punish her for her idolatry.Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with herBy showing how harlots trim themselves to please others, he declares how superstitious idolaters set a great part of their religion in adorning themselves on their holy days.earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

¹⁴ Therefore, behold, I willBy my benefits in offering her grace and mercy, even in that place where she will think herself destitute of all help and comfort.allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

¹⁵ And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valleyWhich was a plentiful valley, and in which they had great comfort when they came out of the wilderness, as in (Jos_7:26), and is called the door of hope, because it was a departing from death and an entry into life.of Achor for a door of hope: and she shallShe will then praise God as she did when she was delivered out of Egypt.sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, [that] thou shalt call meThat is, my husband, knowing that I am united to you by a covenant which could not be violated.Ishi; and shalt call me no moreThat is, my master: which name was applied to their idols.Baali.

¹⁷ For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by theirNo idolatry will come into their mouth at all, but they will fear me purely according to my word.name.

¹⁸ And in that day will I make a covenant for them with theMeaning that he will so bless them that all creatures will favour them.beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and [with] the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

¹⁹ And I wil marry thee vnto me for euer: yea, I will marry thee vnto me in righteousnes, and in iudgement, and in mercy and in compassion.

²⁰ I will even betroth thee unto me inWith a covenant that will never be broken.faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hearThen will the heaven desire rain for the earth, which will bring forth things for the use of man.the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

²² And the earth shall heare the corne, & the wine, and the oyle, and they shall heare Izreel.

²³ And I will sowe her vnto me in the earth, and I will haue mercie vpon her, that was not pitied, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; they shal say, Thou art my God.