Hosea 1:2

Hosea 1:2

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.

a. NLT: When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.”

b. 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.”

c. YLT: The commencement of Jehovah's speaking by Hosea. And Jehovah saith unto Hosea, 'Go, take to thee a woman of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms, for utterly go a-whoring doth the land from after Jehovah.'

d. Amplified Bible Classic:  When the Lord first spoke with and through Hosea, the Lord said to him, Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of [her] harlotry, for the land commits great whoredom by departing from the Lord.

e. Septuagint: The beginning of the word of the Lord by Osee. And the Lord said to Osee, Go, take to thyself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: for the land will surely go a-whoring in departing from the Lord.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: The initial speech of HASHEM to Hosea: HASHEM said to Hosea, “Go take unto yourself a wife of harlotry and [beget] children of harlotry. For the land is straying completely from following HASHEM.

1. “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea…”

a. the beginning [8462 * tchillah] [Strong: from 2490 in the sense of opening; a commencement; rel. original (adverb, -ly):--begin(-ning), first (time).]

b. of the word [1696 * dabar] [Strong: a primitive root; perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue:--answer, appoint, bid, command, commune, declare, destroy, give, name, promise, pronounce, rehearse, say, speak, be spokesman, subdue, talk, teach, tell, think, use (entreaties), utter, X well, X work.]

c. of the LORD [3068 * Yhovah] [Strong: from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

d. by Hosea [1954 * Howshea`] [Strong: from 3467; deliverer; Hoshea, the name of five Israelites:--Hosea, Hoshea, Oshea.]

2. “…And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms…”

a. the LORD [3068 * Yhovah] [Strong: from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

b. said [559 * 'amar] [Strong: a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

c. to Hosea [1954 * Howshea`] [Strong: from 3467; deliverer; Hoshea, the name of five Israelites:--Hosea, Hoshea, Oshea.]

d. Go [3213 * yalak] [Strong: a primitive root (Compare 1980); to walk (literally or figuratively); causatively, to carry (in various senses):--X again, away, bear, bring, carry (away), come (away), depart, flow, + follow(-ing), get (away, hence, him), (cause to, made) go (away, -ing, -ne, one's way, out), grow, lead (forth), let down, march, prosper, + pursue, cause to run, spread, take away ((-journey)), vanish, (cause to) walk(-ing), wax, X be weak.]

e. take [3947 * laqach] [Strong: a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of applications):--accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, X many, mingle, place, receive(-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.]

f. a wife [802 * 'ishshah] [Strong: feminine of 376 or 582; irregular plural, nashiym {naw-sheem'}; a woman (used in the same wide sense as 582):--(adulter)ess, each, every, female, X many, + none, one, + together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.]

g. of whoredoms [2183 * zanuwn] [Strong: from 2181; adultery; figuratively, idolatry:--whoredom.]

1). Albert Barnes Commentary:  A wife of whoredoms - i. e., take as a wife, one who up to that time had again and again been guilty of that sin. So "men of bloods" Psalms 5:6 are "men given up to bloodshedding;" and our Lord was "a Man of Sorrows Isaiah 53:3, not occasional only, but manifold and continual, throughout His whole life. She must, then, amid the manifold corruption of Israel, have been repeatedly guilty of that sin, perhaps as an idolatress, thinking of it to be in honor of their foul gods (Hosea 4:13, 14).

2). One school of thought teaches she was already a whore while the other teaches she was not a whore yet but would end up being one. Scripture quoted to bolster she was not a whore yet is Jeremiah.

a). Jeremiah 2:2, 3 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

2:3 Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.

h. and children [3206 * yeled] [Strong: from 3205; something born, i.e. a lad or offspring:--boy, child, fruit, son, young man (one).]

i. of whoredoms [2183 * zanuwn] [Strong: from 2181; adultery; figuratively, idolatry:--whoredom.]

1). The majority of the translations cited above, 4 of the 6 read that it is referring to the children he and his whore wife would beget in thier marriage.

3. “…for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.”

a. for the land [776 * 'erets] [Strong: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

b. hath committed great whoredom [2181 * zanah] [Strong: a primitive root (highly-fed and therefore wanton); to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment); figuratively, to commit idolatry (the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Jehovah):--(cause to) commit fornication, X continually, X great, (be an, play the) harlot, (cause to be, play the) whore, (commit, fall to) whoredom, (cause to) go a-whoring, whorish.]

c. departing from [310 * 'achar] [Strong: from 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):--after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

d. the LORD [3068 * Yhovah] [Strong: from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]