New King James Version
Hosea 2:4
4“I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry.
Hosea 2:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
- New International Version (NIV)I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.
- New Living Translation (NLT)And I will not love her children, for they were conceived in prostitution.
Context of Hosea 2:4
2“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts; 3Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst. “I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry. 5For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’ 6“Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And wall her in, So that she cannot find her paths.
Read all of Hosea 2Hosea 2:4 word by word
וְאֶת־בָּנֶ֖יהָ לֹ֣א אֲרַחֵ֑ם כִּֽי־בְנֵ֥י זְנוּנִ֖ים הֵֽמָּה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 2:4
- Hosea 1:6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.
- Isaiah 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; The women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; Therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, And He who formed them will show them no favor.
- Jeremiah 13:14And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”
- Jeremiah 16:5For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies.
- Ezekiel 8:18Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
- Ezekiel 9:10And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head.”
- Zechariah 1:12Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?”
- Romans 9:18Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
- Romans 11:22Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
- James 2:13For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Hosea 1:2When 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.”
- 2 Kings 9:22Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?”
- Isaiah 57:3“But come here, You sons of the sorceress, You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!
- John 8:41You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
Commentaries on Hosea 2:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4They be the children of whoredoms - They are all idolaters; and have been consecrated to idols, whose marks they bear.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-23Rebuke your mother, rebuke her: At first glance, the Lord, like an upset husband, seems to be giving a divorce to his unfaithful wife, Israel (see Deuteronomy 24:1). However, as the passage continues, it becomes clear that God’s goal in this lawsuit is not divorce, but reconciliation (Hosea 2:14–23). God’s case against Israel aims to make Israel aware of her sin and offer her a chance to return to her true husband. The Lord’s desire for reconciliation…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. her children--Not even her individual members shall escape the doom of the nation collectively, for they are individually guilty.Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 2:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 2
- 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries