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Easy-to-Read Version

Hosea 2:2

"Argue with your mother. Argue with her because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband! Tell her to stop being like a prostitute. Tell her to take away her lovers from between her breasts.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Idolatry;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Scofield Reference Index - Israel;   Wife;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Adultery;   Hosea;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Marriage;   Sin;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Preaching;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Fornication;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ammi;   Hosea;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Harlot;   Hosea;   Mother;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Magic, Divination, and Sorcery;   Sin;   Song of Songs;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Husband;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Adultery;   Concubine;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Breast;   Husband;   Mother;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Adultery;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Breast;   Covenant, in the Old Testament;   Plead;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hafṭarah;   Marriage;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Rebuke your mother; rebuke her.For she is not my wife and I am not her husband.Let her remove the promiscuous look from her faceand her adultery from between her breasts.
Hebrew Names Version
Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, Neither am I her husband; And let her put away her prostitution from her face, And her adulteries from between her breasts;
King James Version
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
English Standard Version
"Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;
New American Standard Bible
"Dispute with your mother, dispute, Because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; But she must remove her infidelity from her face And her adultery from between her breasts,
New Century Version
"Plead with your mother. Accuse her, because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute, to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.
Amplified Bible
"Contend with your mother (nation); contend, For she is not my wife and I am not her husband; And have her remove her [marks of] prostitution from her face And her adultery from between her breasts
Geneva Bible (1587)
Plead with your mother: plead with her: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: but let her take away her fornications out of her sight, & her adulteries from betweene her breasts.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"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,
Legacy Standard Bible
"Contend with your mother, contend,For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband;And let her remove her harlotry from her faceAnd her adultery from between her breasts,
Berean Standard Bible
Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
Contemporary English Version
Accuse! Accuse your mother! She is no longer my wife, and now I, the Lord , am not her husband. Beg her to give up prostitution and stop being unfaithful,
Complete Jewish Bible
Then the people of Y'hudah and the people of Isra'el will be gathered together; they will appoint for themselves one leader; and they will go up out of the land; for that will be a great day, [the day] of Yizre‘el.
Darby Translation
Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
George Lamsa Translation
Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts,
Good News Translation
My children, plead with your mother—though she is no longer a wife to me, and I am no longer her husband. Plead with her to stop her adultery and prostitution.
Lexham English Bible
Plead with your mother, plead— because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her whoring from before her, and her adultery from between her breasts.
Literal Translation
Strive! Strive with your mother, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Therefore, let her put away her harlotries from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
As for youre mother, ye shal chyde with her, and reproue her: for she is not my wife, nether am I hir hu?bode: vnlesse she put awaye hir whordome out of my sight, and hir aduoutry from hir brestes.
American Standard Version
Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
Bible in Basic English
Take up the cause against your mother, take it up, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; let her put away her loose ways from her face, and her false ways from between her breasts;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
King James Version (1611)
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whordomes out of her sight, and her adulteries from betweene her breasts;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
As for your mother, ye shall chyde with her and reproue her, for she is not my wyfe, neither am I her husbande: let her therefore put away her whordome from her face, and her adulterie from her brestes:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband: and I will remove her fornication out of my presence, and her adultery from between her breasts:
English Revised Version
Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
World English Bible
Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, Neither am I her husband; And let her put away her prostitution from her face, And her adulteries from between her breasts;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Deme ye youre modir, deme ye, for sche is not my wijf, and Y am not hir hosebonde. Do sche awey hir fornicaciouns fro hir face, and hir auowtries fro the myddis of hir brestis;
Update Bible Version
Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
Webster's Bible Translation
Plead with your mother, plead: for she [is] not my wife, neither [am] I her husband: let her therefore put away her prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
New English Translation
Plead earnestly with your mother (for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.
New King James Version
"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;
New Living Translation
"But now bring charges against Israel—your mother— for she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to remove the prostitute's makeup from her face and the clothing that exposes her breasts.
New Life Bible
"Speak with strong words to your mother. Speak with strong words, for she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop selling the use of her body and giving herself to other men.
New Revised Standard
Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Contend ye with your mother, contend, for she is no wife of mine, and I am no husband of hers, Let her then put away her paramours from before her, and her partners in adultery, from her embraces:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts.
Revised Standard Version
"Plead with your mother, plead--for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband--that she put away her harlotry from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;
Young's Literal Translation
Plead ye with your mother -- plead, (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband,) And she turneth her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts,
THE MESSAGE
"Haul your mother into court. Accuse her! She's no longer my wife. I'm no longer her husband. Tell her to quit dressing like a whore, displaying her breasts for sale. If she refuses, I'll rip off her clothes and expose her, naked as a newborn. I'll turn her skin into dried-out leather, her body into a badlands landscape, a rack of bones in the desert. I'll have nothing to do with her children, born one and all in a whorehouse. Face it: Your mother's been a whore, bringing bastard children into the world. She said, ‘I'm off to see my lovers! They'll wine and dine me, Dress and caress me, perfume and adorn me!' But I'll fix her: I'll dump her in a field of thistles, then lose her in a dead-end alley. She'll go on the hunt for her lovers but not bring down a single one. She'll look high and low but won't find a one. Then she'll say, ‘I'm going back to my husband, the one I started out with. That was a better life by far than this one.' She didn't know that it was I all along who wined and dined and adorned her, That I was the one who dressed her up in the big-city fashions and jewelry that she wasted on wild Baal-orgies. I'm about to bring her up short: No more wining and dining! Silk lingerie and gowns are a thing of the past. I'll expose her genitals to the public. All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her. Party time is over. I'm calling a halt to the whole business, her wild weekends and unholy holidays. I'll wreck her sumptuous gardens and ornamental fountains, of which she bragged, ‘Whoring paid for all this!' They will soon be dumping grounds for garbage, feeding grounds for stray dogs and cats. I'll make her pay for her indulgence in promiscuous religion— all that sensuous Baal worship And all the promiscuous sex that went with it, stalking her lovers, dressed to kill, And not a thought for me." God 's Message!

Contextual Overview

1 "Then you will say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,' and you will say to your sisters, ‘He has shown mercy to you.'" 2 "Argue with your mother. Argue with her because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband! Tell her to stop being like a prostitute. Tell her to take away her lovers from between her breasts. 3 If she refuses to stop her adultery, I will strip her naked and leave her like the day she was born. I will take away her people, and she will be like an empty, dry desert. I will kill her with thirst. 4 I will have no pity on her children because they are the children of prostitution. 5 Their mother has acted like a prostitute. She should be ashamed of what she did. She said, ‘I will go to my lovers, who give me food and water, wool and linen, wine and olive oil.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Plead with: Isaiah 58:1, Jeremiah 2:2, Jeremiah 19:3, Ezekiel 20:4, Ezekiel 23:45, Matthew 23:37-39, Acts 7:51-53, 2 Corinthians 5:16

she: Isaiah 50:1, Jeremiah 3:6-8

let: Hosea 1:2, Jeremiah 3:1, Jeremiah 3:9, Jeremiah 3:13, Ezekiel 16:20, Ezekiel 16:25, Ezekiel 23:43

Reciprocal: Numbers 15:39 - go a whoring Deuteronomy 31:16 - and go a Judges 2:17 - whoring Judges 8:27 - a whoring Isaiah 54:6 - a woman Jeremiah 2:9 - I will Jeremiah 3:8 - when for Jeremiah 4:1 - put away Jeremiah 31:32 - although I was Ezekiel 16:32 - General Ezekiel 17:20 - plead Ezekiel 19:10 - mother Ezekiel 23:18 - then Ezekiel 23:36 - declare Ezekiel 43:9 - Now let Hosea 2:5 - their mother Hosea 4:5 - thy John 8:41 - We be Galatians 4:26 - mother

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
God looked at everything he had made. And he saw that everything was very good. There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the sixth day.
Genesis 2:8
Then the Lord God planted a garden in the East, in a place named Eden. He put the man he made in that garden.
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first river was Pishon. This river flowed around the entire country of Havilah.
Exodus 23:12
"Work for six days, but on the seventh day, rest! This will allow your slaves and other workers a time to rest and relax. And your bulls and donkeys will also have a time of rest.
Exodus 31:17
The Sabbath will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever.'" (The Lord worked six days and made the sky and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and relaxed.)
Deuteronomy 5:14
but the seventh day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. So on that day no one should work—not you, your sons and daughters, foreigners living in your cities or your men and women slaves. Not even your cattle, donkeys, and other animals should do any work! Your slaves should be able to rest just as you do.
Isaiah 58:13
That will happen when you stop sinning against God's law about the Sabbath and when you stop doing things to please yourself on that special day. You should call the Sabbath a happy day. You should honor the Lord 's special day by not saying and doing things that you do every other day of the week.
John 5:17
But he said to them, "My Father never stops working, and so I work too."
Hebrews 4:4
Yes, somewhere in the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week. He said, "So on the seventh day God rested from all his work."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Plead with your mother, plead,.... The congregation of Israel, as the Targum; the body of the Jewish nation, which, with respect to individuals, was as a mother to her children; see Matthew 21:37, that is, lay before her, her sin in rejecting the Messiah, the Head and Husband of his true church and people; endeavour to convince her of it; reprove her for it; expostulate with her about it; argue the case with her, and show her the danger of persisting in such an evil, as the apostles did, Acts 2:23

for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; for though there had been such a relation between them, yet it was now dissolved; she had broken the marriage covenant and contract, and God had given her a bill of divorce, Jeremiah 31:32 or, however, as she behaved not as a wife towards him, showing love and affection, honour and reverence, and performing duty, and yielding obedience; so he would not carry it as a husband towards her, nourishing and cherishing her, providing for her, and protecting and defending her; but leave her to shift for herself, and to the insults and abuses of others; having been guilty of idolatry, which is spiritual adultery, as the Israelites before the captivity were; and as the Jews in Christ's time were guilty of rejecting the word of God, and preferring their own traditions to it: hence it follows,

let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, or "from her face" e,

and her adulteries from between her breasts; alluding to the custom of harlots, who used to paint their faces, and to allure with their looks, words, and actions, and to make bare their breasts, or adorn them, or carry in them what were enticing and alluring. These adulteries and whoredoms, which are the same thing, may signify the many idolatries of the people of Israel before their captivity, and which were the cause of it; or the sins of the Jews before their dispersion; or their evil works, as the Targum, by which they departed from God and the true Messiah, and went a whoring after other lovers: thus they rejected, transgressed, and made of none effect the commandments of God by their traditions; paid tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and neglected the weighty matters of the law; sought not the honour of God, but that which comes from men; and therefore confessed not the true Messiah, though under convictions of him, and went about to establish their own righteousness, and submitted not to his; these were the idols of their hearts, and the whoredoms and adulteries the Jewish converts, that truly believed in Christ, are ordered to exhort them to put away. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, "I will take away her whoredoms c.",

e מפניה "a facie sua", Calvin, Pagninus, Piscator, Cocceius "a faciebus suis", Montanus, Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Plead with your mother, plead - The prophets close the threats of coming judgments with the dawn of after-hopes; and from hopes they go back to God’s judgments against sin, pouring in wine and oil into the wounds of sinners. The “mother” is the Church or nation; the “sons,” are its members, one by one. These, when turned to God, must plead with their mother, that she turn also. When involved in her judgments, they must plead with her, and not accuse God. God “had not forgotten to be gracious;” but she “kept not His love, and refused His friendship, and despised the purity of spiritual communion with Him, and would not travail with the fruit of His will.” : “The sons differ from the mother, as the inventor of evil from those who imitate it. For as, in good, the soul which, from the Spirit of God, conceiveth the word of truth, is the mother, and whoso profiteth by hearing the word of doctrine from her mouth, is the child, so, in evil, whatsoever soul inventeth evil is the mother, and whoso is deceived by her is the son. So in Israel, the adulterous mother was the synagogue, and the individuals deceived by her were the sons.”

“Ye who believe in Christ, and are both of Jews and Gentiles, say ye to the broken branches and to the former people which is cast off, “My people,” for it is your brother; and “Beloved,” for it is “your sister.” For when Romans 11:25-26 the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then shall all Israel be saved. In like way we are bidden not to despair of heretics, but to incite them to repentance, and with brotherly love to long for their salvation” .

For she is not My wife - God speaketh of the spiritual union between Himself and His people whom He had chosen, under the terms of the closest human oneness, of husband and wife. She was no longer united to Him by faith and love, nor would He any longer own her. Plead therefore with her earnestly as orphans, who, for her sins, have lost the protection of their Father.

Let her therefore put away her whoredoms - So great is the tender mercy of God. He says, let her but put away her defilements, and she shall again be restored, as if she had never fallen; let her but put away all objects of attachment, which withdrew her from God, and God will again be All to her.

Adulteries, whoredores - God made the soul for Himself; He betrothed her to Himself through the gift of the Holy Spirit; He united her to Himself. All love, then, out of God, is to take another, instead of God. “whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.” “Adultery” is to become another’s than His, the Only Lord and Husband of the soul. Whoredom is to have many other objects of sinful love. Love is one, for One. The soul which has forsaken the One, is drawn here and there, has manifold objects of desire, which displace one another, because none satisfies. Hence, the prophet speaks of “fornications, adulteries;” because the soul, which will not rest in God, seeks to distract herself from her unrest and unsatisfiedness, by heaping to herself manifold lawless pleasures, out of, and contrary to the will of, God.

From before her - Literally “from her face.” The face is the seat of modesty, shame, or shamelessness. Hence, in Jeremiah God says to Judah, “Thou hadst a harlot’s forehead; thou refusedst to be ashamed” Jeremiah 3:3; and “they were not at all ashamed, neither will they blush” Jeremiah 6:15. The eyes, also, are the “windows” Jeremiah 9:21, through which “death,” i. e., lawless desire, “enters into” the soul, and takes it captive.

From her breasts - These are exposed, adorned, degraded in disorderly love, which they are employed to allure. Beneath too lies the heart, the seat of the affections. It may mean then, that she should no more gaze with pleasure on the objects of her sin, nor allow her heart to dwell on tilings which she loved sinfully. Whence it is said of the love of Christ, which should keep the soul free from all unruly passions which might offend him Song of Solomon 1:13, “My Well-beloved shall lie all night between my breasts Song of Solomon 8:6, as a seal upon the heart” beneath.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hosea 2:2. Plead with your mother — People of Judah, accuse your mother, (Jerusalem,) who has abandoned my worship, and is become idolatrous; convince her of her folly and wickedness, and let her return to him from whom she has so deeply revolted.


 
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