21 Say to your brothers , "Ammi ," and to your sisters , "Ruhamah ." 2 "Contend with your mother , contend , For she is not my wife , and I am not her husband ; And let her put away her harlotry from her face And her adultery from between her breasts , 3 Or I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day when she was born . I will also make her like a wilderness , Make her like desert land And slay her with thirst . 4 "Also, I will have no compassion on her children , Because they are children of harlotry . 5 "For their mother has played the harlot ; She who conceived them has acted shamefully . For 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 .'
6 "Therefore , behold , I will hedge up her way with thorns , And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths . 7 "She will pursue her lovers , but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say , ' I will go back to my first husband , For it was better for me then than now !' 8 "For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain , the new wine and the oil , And lavished on her silver and gold , Which they used for Baal . 9 "Therefore , I will take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season . I will also take away My wool and My flax Given to cover her nakedness . 10 "And then I will uncover her lewdness In the sight of her lovers , And no one will rescue her out of My hand . 11 "I will also put an end to all her gaiety , Her feasts , her new moons , her sabbaths And all her festal assemblies . 12 "I will destroy her vines and fig trees , Of which she said , 'These are my wages Which my lovers have given me.' And I will make them a forest , And the beasts of the field will devour them. 13 "I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry , And follow e her lovers , so that she forgot Me," declares the Lord .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 2:1-13
Commentary on Hosea 2:1-5
(Read Hosea 2:1-5)
This chapter continues the figurative address to Israel, in reference to Hosea's wife and children. Let us own and love as brethren, all whom the Lord seems to put among his children, and encourage them in that they have received mercy. But every Christian, by his example and conduct, must protest against evil and abuses, even among those to whom he belongs and owes respect. Impenitent sinners will soon be stripped of the advantages they misuse, and which they consume upon their lusts.
Commentary on Hosea 2:6-13
(Read Hosea 2:6-13)
God threatens what he would do with this treacherous, idolatrous people. They did not turn, therefore all this came upon them; and it is written for admonition to us. If lesser difficulties be got over, God will raise greater. The most resolute in sinful pursuits, are commonly most crossed in them. The way of God and duty is often hedged about with thorns, but we have reason to think it is a sinful way that is hedged up with thorns. Crosses and obstacles in an evil course are great blessings, and are to be so accounted; they are God's hedges, to keep us from transgressing, to make the way of sin difficult, and to keep us from it. We have reason to bless God for restraining grace, and for restraining providences; and even for sore pain, sickness, or calamity, if it keeps us from sin. The disappointments we meet with in seeking for satisfaction from the creature, should, if nothing else will do it, drive us to the Creator. When men forget, or consider not that their comforts come from God, he will often in mercy take them away, to bring them to think upon their folly and danger. Sin and mirth can never hold long together; but if men will not take away sin from their mirth, God will take away mirth from their sin. And if men destroy God's word and ordinances, it is just with him to destroy their vines and fig-trees. This shall be the ruin of their mirth. Taking away the solemn seasons and the sabbaths will not do it, they will readily part with them, and think it no loss; but He will take away their sensual pleasures. Days of sinful mirth must be visited with days of mourning.