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It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn to your ancestors, that the Lord brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.(A)

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15 Yet only on your ancestors did the Lord set his heart to love them. He chose you, their descendants, from all the peoples, as it is today.(A)

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Because you are precious in my eyes
    and honored, and I love you,
I give people in return for you
    and nations in exchange for your life.(A)

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    in their every affliction.
It was not an envoy or a messenger,
    but his presence that saved them.
Because of his love and pity
    the Lord redeemed them,
Lifting them up and carrying them
    all the days of old.(A)

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Chapter 11

The Disappointment of a Parent

[a]When Israel was a child I loved him,(A)
    out of Egypt[b] I called my son.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 11:1–3 After the image of husband-wife (chaps. 1–3), Hosea uses the image of parent-child (Ex 4:22; Is 1:2; Jer 3:19).
  2. 11:1 Out of Egypt: Hosea dates the real beginning of Israel from the time of the exodus. Mt 2:15 applies this text to the return of Jesus from Egypt.

I drew them with human cords,
    with bands of love;[a]
I fostered them like those
    who raise an infant to their cheeks;
    I bent down to feed them.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 11:4 I drew them…with bands of love: perhaps a reversal of the yoke imagery of the previous chapter, i.e., not forcing them like draft animals, but drawing them with kindness and affection.