EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Hosea 1:2
2The Lord began to speak to Hosea with a message for his people. The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go and marry a prostitute. She will give birth to children for you, as a prostitute. That will show how my people have not been faithful to me. They have turned away from me, the Lord, and they have served other gods.’
Hosea 1:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
- New International Version (NIV)When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord."
- New King James Version (NKJV)When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the Lord.”
Context of Hosea 1:2
1This is the message that the Lord gave to Hosea, the son of Beeri. He gave this message during the time that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. It was during the time when Joash's son Jeroboam was the king of Israel. The Lord began to speak to Hosea with a message for his people. The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go and marry a prostitute. She will give birth to children for you, as a prostitute. That will show how my people have not been faithful to me. They have turned away from me, the Lord, and they have served other gods.’ 3So Hosea married a woman called Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Then Gomer became pregnant. She gave birth to a son for Hosea. 4The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call him Jezreel. This is because I will soon punish the family of Jehu. I will punish them because Jehu murdered people at Jezreel. I will cause the kingdom of Israel to come to an end.
Read all of Hosea 1Hosea 1:2 word by word
תְּחִלַּ֥ת דִּבֶּר־יְהוָ֖ה בְּהוֹשֵׁ֑עַ פ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־הוֹשֵׁ֗עַ לֵ֣ךְ קַח־לְךָ֞ אֵ֤שֶׁת זְנוּנִים֙ וְיַלְדֵ֣י זְנוּנִ֔ים כִּֽי־זָנֹ֤ה תִזְנֶה֙ הָאָ֔רֶץ מֵֽאַחֲרֵ֖י יְהוָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- The beginningתְּחִלָּהtechillâh · beginningH8462
- of the wordדָבַרdâbar · to speak: speakH1696
- of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- by Hoseaהוֹשֵׁעַhôshêa‛ · HoseaH1954
- saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- Goיָלַךְyâlak · to walkH3212
- takeלָקַחlâqach · to take: marryH3947
- unto thee a wifeאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · woman: wifeH802
- of whoredomsזְנוּנִיםzânûn · fornicationH2183
- and childrenיֶ֫לֶדyeled · youthH3206
- for the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- hath committed greatזָנָהzânâh · to fornicateH2181
- fromאַחַר'achar · afterH310
Cross-references for Hosea 1:2
- Mark 1:1This is the start of the good news about Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God.
- Hosea 3:1Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go back to your wife and show that you love her. Do that, even though she loves another man and is not faithful to you. The Lord loves the Israelites in the same way. They turn away from him to worship other gods. They love to offer gifts of raisins to idols. But the Lord still loves them.’
- Isaiah 20:2At that time, the Lord gave this message to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. He said, ‘Go and remove the rough clothes that you are wearing. Take your shoes off your feet.’ Isaiah did what the Lord told him to do. He walked about without clothes and without shoes.
- Jeremiah 13:1The Lord said to me, ‘Go and buy a linen belt. Tie it around your body. But do not put it into water.’
- Ezekiel 4:1‘Son of man, take a large brick and put it in front of you. On the brick, draw a picture of the city, Jerusalem.
- Hosea 2:4I will not show love to her children, because she became pregnant with them as a prostitute.
- 2 Peter 2:14All the time, they are looking for women who will have sex with them. They never stop doing wicked things. They teach people who have weak minds to believe wrong things. They just want more and more things to make themselves happy. God will certainly punish these people, because they are so bad.
- Exodus 34:15Be careful not to make an agreement with the people who live in that land. They have turned away to worship their own gods. They offer sacrifices to their gods. When they do that, they may ask you to join with them. Then you will eat the food that they have offered to their gods.
- Deuteronomy 31:16The Lord said to Moses, ‘You will soon die. After you die, the people will soon go away from me. They will start to worship foreign gods of the land where they are going. They will turn against me. They will not obey the covenant that I made with them.
- 2 Chronicles 21:13Instead, you have lived in the way that the kings of Israel live. You have caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to turn away from the Lord and worship false gods. That is the same as King Ahab's family has done in Israel. You have also killed your own brothers, your father's sons. They were better men than you are.
- Psalms 73:27Those people who stay far away from you will die. You destroy everybody who turns away from you.
- Psalms 106:39The things that the Lord's people did made them unclean. They were not faithful to the Lord, like a wife who is not faithful to her husband.
- Jeremiah 2:13My people have done two evil things: I give them life, like a spring of fresh water, but they have turned away from me. Instead, they have tried to get water for themselves. They have dug holes in the ground to store it. But those holes cannot hold the water. It quickly runs away.
- Jeremiah 3:1The Lord says this: ‘If a man sends his wife away, she may leave him and marry another man. Then her first husband may not take her as his wife again. That would be a sin against the land where you live. But you have left me to live with other gods. You have lived like a prostitute, but you still think that you can return to me.
- Ezekiel 6:9When they are living as prisoners among those other nations, they will remember me. They will realize that they made me very sad because they were not faithful to me. They stopped worshipping me. Instead, they chose to worship idols. Then they will be ashamed of themselves, because of all the disgusting things which they have done.
- Ezekiel 16:1The Lord gave this message to me:
Commentaries on Hosea 1:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2A wife of whoredoms - That is, says Newcome, a wife from among the Israelites, who were remarkable for spiritual fornication, or idolatry. God calls himself the husband of Israel; and this chosen nation owed him the fidelity of a wife. See Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 31:16; Judges 2:17; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 31:32, Ezekiel 16:17; Ezekiel 23:5, Ezekiel 23:27; Hosea 2, Hosea 5:1-15; Revelation 17:1, Revelation 17:2. He therefore says, with…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea or in Hosea - God first revealed Himself and His mysteries to the prophet‘s soul, by His secret inspiration, and then declared, through him, to others, what He had deposited in him. God enlightened him, and then others through the light in him. And the Lord said unto Hosea - For this thing was to be done by Hosea alone, because God had commanded it, not by others of their own mind. To Isaiah God first…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-3a prostitute: Some find it hard to believe that God would tell a prophet to marry a prostitute. Because of this, many interpret this story symbolically. Early church members often thought the marriage did not actually happen. They saw it as an allegory, with Hosea representing the Lord and Gomer representing Israel. Today, most believe the marriage was real, but they have different views on Gomer’s job before marriage. Some think Gomer was a regular…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. beginning--not of the prophet's predictions generally, but of those spoken by Hosea. take ... wife of whoredoms--not externally acted, but internally and in vision, as a pictorial illustration of Israel's unfaithfulness [Hengstenberg]. Compare Eze 16:8, 15, &c. Besides the loathsomeness of such a marriage, if an external act, it would require years for the birth of three children, which would weaken the symbol (compare Eze 4:4). Henderson objects that…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 1:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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