Tree of Life Version
Hosea 2:4
4Contend with your mother, contend! For she is not My wife nor I her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.
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 King James Version (NKJV)“I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry.
Context of Hosea 2:4
2Then the descendants of Judah and descendants of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint themselves one head And they will go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great. 3Say you to your brothers, ‘Ammi’ and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah’. Contend with your mother, contend! For she is not My wife nor I her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face and her adulteries from between her breasts. 5Or else I will strip her naked and expose her as on the day she was born. Then I will make her like a wilderness. Yes, I will make her like desert land, and I will let her die of thirst. 6I will have no compassion for her children, for they are children of prostitution.
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 1:6Then she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And He said to him: “Name her Lo-ruhamah— for no longer will I have compassion on the house of Israel that I should ever pardon them.
- Isaiah 27:11When the boughs are withered, they will be broken off. Women come and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore their Maker will show them no mercy—He who formed them will give them no grace.
- Jeremiah 13:14And I will smash them against each other, even fathers and sons,’ says Adonai. ‘I will show no pity, nor regret, nor compassion, to keep Me from destroying them.’”
- Jeremiah 16:5For thus says Adonai: “Do not enter a house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them. For I have taken away My shalom from this people”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“as well as My mercy and compassion.
- Ezekiel 8:18Therefore I will indeed act in fury. My eye will not spare you nor will I have pity. Though they cry into My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
- Ezekiel 9:10As for Me, my eye will not show pity nor will I spare. I will bring their conduct upon their head.”
- Zechariah 1:12Then the angel of Adonai answered and said, ‘Adonai-Tzva’ot, how long will You withhold compassion on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah with whom You have been angry for 70 years?’
- Romans 9:18So then He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
- Romans 11:22Notice then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell; but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off!
- James 2:13For judgment is merciless to the one who does not show mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Hosea 1:2When Adonai first spoke with Hosea, Adonai said to Hosea: “Go, get yourself a prostitute as a wife and children with a prostitute! For the land is an unfaithful prostitute, far from following after Adonai.”
- 2 Kings 9:22Now when Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is it peace, Jehu?” So he answered, “What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?”
- Isaiah 57:3But as for you, come here, you children of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and prostitute.
- John 8:41You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born as illegitimate children—we have one Father, God Himself!”
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
Tree of Life Version — © 2015 The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Commentaries