Hosea 2:16-18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 Therefore,[a] I will allure her now;
I will lead her into the wilderness(A)
and speak persuasively to her.
17 Then I will give her the vineyards she had,
and the valley of Achor[b] as a door of hope.(B)
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as on the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
18 On that day—oracle of the Lord—
You shall call me “My husband,”
and you shall never again call me “My baal.”[c]
Footnotes
- 2:16 Therefore: this word in Hebrew normally introduces an oracle of doom; here, surprisingly, it leads to hope. Allure: as though seducing a virgin (Ex 22:15–16). Ordinarily this word connotes deception (Jgs 14:15; 16:5; 1 Kgs 22:20–22).
- 2:17 Valley of Achor: lit., valley of trouble (Jos 7:26). Here this valley becomes a valley of hope, a new entry into the promised land.
- 2:18–19 Baal: the word means “lord, master.” It was commonly used by women of their husbands, but it is to be shunned as a title for the Lord because of its association with the fertility gods, the Baals. Many Israelites saw little if any difference between the worship of the Lord and the worship of the Baals, thereby dishonoring the true source of the land’s fertility.
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