rd

Hosea 2

1 The people is called to repentance. 5 He sheweth their idolatrie and threateneth them except they repent.
1.Say unto your abrethren, Ammi, and your sisters, Ruhámah,
2.Plead with your bmother: plead with her: for she is not my wife, neither am I her housband: but let her take away her fornications out of her sight, and her adulteries cfrom between her breasts.
3.dLest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, eand make her as a wilderness, and leave her like a dry land, and slay her for thirst.
4.And I will have no pity upon her children: for they be the fchildren of fornications.
5.For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them, hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my glovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
6.Therefore behold, I will stop hthy way with thorns, and make an hedge, that she shal not find her paths.
7.Though she follow after her lovers, yet shal she not come at them: though she seek them, yet shal she not find them: then shal she say, iI will go and return to my first housband: for at that time was I better then now.
8.Now she did not know that I kgave her corn, & wine, & oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they bestowed upon Báal.
9.Therefore will I return, and take away lmy corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax lent, to cover her shame.
10.And now will I discover her mlewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no man shal deliver her out of mine hand.
11.I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12.And I will destroy her vines and her figtrees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them as a forest, and the wild beasts shal eat them.
13.And I will visit upon her the days nof Baalím, wherein she burnt incense to them: and she decked her self with her oearings and her jewels, and she followed her lovers, and forgate me, saith the Lord.
14.Therefore behold, I will pallure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak friendly unto her.
15.And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley qof Achór for the door of hope, and she shal rsing 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 at that day, saith the Lord, thou shalt call me sIshí, and shalt call me no more tBaalí.
17.For I will take away the names of Baalím out of her mouth, and they shalbe no more remembered by their unames.
18.And in that day will I make a covenant for them, with the xwild beasts, and with the fowl of the heaven, & with that that crepeth upon the earth: and I will break the bow, and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to sleep safely.
19.And I will marie thee unto me for ever: yea, I will marie thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in mercy and in compassion.
20.I will even marie thee unto me in yfaithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.
21.And in that day I will hear, saith the Lord, I will even hear zthe heavens, and they shal hear the earth,
22.And the earth shal hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shal hear Jzreél.
23.And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her, that was not pitied, and I will say to them which were not my people, *Thou art my people. And they shal say, Thou art my God.

Notes

1-a.
Seeing, that I have promised you deliverance, it remains that you encourage one another to embrace the same, considering that you are my people on whom I will have mercy.
2-b.
God shows that the faute was not in him but in their synagogue, and their idolatries, that he forsook them, Is. 50.1.
2-c.
Meaning, that their idolatry was so great, that they were not ashamed, but boasted of it, Ezek. 16.25.
3-d.
For though this people were as an harlot for their idolatries, yet he had left them with their apparel and dowry and certain signs of his favour, but if they continued still, he would utterly destroy them.
3-e.
When I brought her out of Egypt, Ezek. 16.4.
4-f.
That is, bastards and begotten in adultery.
5-g.
Meaning the idols which they served and by whom they thought they had wealth and abundance.
6-h.
I will punish you that then you may try whether your idols can help you, and bring you into such straightness, that you shall have no lust to play the wanton.
7-i.
This he speaks of the faithful, which are truly converted, and also shows the use and profit of God’s rods.
8-k.
This declares that idolaters defraud God of his honour when they attribute his benefits to their idols.
9-l.
Signifying that God will take away his benefits when man by his ingratitude does abuse them.
10-m.
That is, all her service, ceremonies and inventions whereby she worshipped her idols.
13-n.
I will punish her for her idolatry.
13-o.
By showing how harlots trim themselves to please others, he declares how the superstitious idolaters set a great part of their religion in decking themselves on their holy days.
14-p.
By my benefits in offering her grace and mercy, even in the place where she shall think herself destitute of all help and comfort.
15-q.
Which was a plentiful valley, & wherein they had great comfort when they came out of the wilderness, as Josh. 7.18-26 and is called the door of hope, because it was a departing from death, and an entry into life.
15-r.
She shall then praise God as she did when she was delivered out of Egypt.
16-s.
That is, mine husband, knowing that I am joined to you by an inviolable convenant.
16-t.
That is, my master: which name was applied to their idols.
17-u.
No idolatry shall once come into their mouth, but they shall serve me purely according to my word.
18-x.
Meaning, that he will so bless them that all creatures shall favour them.
20-y.
With a covenant that never shall be broken.
21-z.
Then shall the heaven desire rain for the earth which shall bring forth for the use of man.
23-*.
Rom. 9.25, 1 Pet. 2.10.