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Hosea 2:2-4
New Catholic Bible
Hosea 2:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 The people of Judah and of Israel
shall be gathered together.
They will choose one person to be their leader,
and they shall enlarge their boundaries,
for great will be the day of Jezreel.
3 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,”
and to your sisters, “You are beloved.”
Repudiation and Return to First Love[a]
I Shall Strip Her Bare[b]
4 Insist that your mother repent,[c]
for she is no longer my wife,
and I am not her husband.
If she does not cease her harlotry
and the use of her breasts in adulterous acts,
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:4 This passage gives the religious meaning of the history of Hosea. The prophet attributes to God the language of love, passion, jealousy, threats, but also tender love and forgiveness.
- Hosea 2:4 Rich and harsh images are presented here, showing the trial of unfaithful Israel, for whom God had done everything and had drawn her out of wretchedness like an abandoned daughter (see Ezek 16:8). He is now going to bar the way and prevent her from falling back into this wretchedness, because with the false gods, her lovers, she has messed up the country received as a marriage gift. The land will be sacked. Then perhaps the hearts of the ungrateful ones will return, for God cannot bring himself to apply to them what the law calls for—the punishment of death (see Lev 20:1-27).
- Hosea 2:4 Your mother repent: the reference seems to be to amulets or other signs representing Baal.
