Hosea 1:2
New International Version
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.”

New Living Translation
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.”

English Standard Version
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”

Berean Standard Bible
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD.”

New American Standard Bible
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife inclined to infidelity, and children of infidelity; for the land commits flagrant infidelity, abandoning the LORD.”

NASB 1995
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.”

NASB 1977
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.”

Legacy Standard Bible
When Yahweh first spoke through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking Yahweh.”

Amplified Bible
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of [her] prostitution; for the land commits great acts of prostitution by not following the LORD.”

Christian Standard Bible
When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him: Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the LORD.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him: Go and marry a promiscuous wife and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the LORD.

American Standard Version
When Jehovah spake at the first by Hosea, Jehovah said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom; for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from Jehovah.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
The beginning of the word of LORD JEHOVAH that was upon Hosha: “LORD JEHOVAH said to Hosha: ‘go take to you a wife who commits whoredom and children who commit whoredom because the land of LORD JEHOVAH will surely commit whoredom after him’

Brenton Septuagint Translation
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.

Contemporary English Version
The LORD said, "Hosea, Israel has betrayed me like an unfaithful wife. Marry such a woman and have children by her."

Douay-Rheims Bible
The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osse: and the Lord said to Osee: Go, take thee a wife of fornications, and have of her children of fornications: for the land by fornication shall depart from the Lord.

English Revised Version
When the LORD spake at the first by Hosea, the LORD said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom: for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, the LORD told him, "Marry a prostitute, and have children with that prostitute. The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the LORD."

Good News Translation
When the LORD first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to Hosea, "Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her. In the same way my people have left me and become unfaithful."

International Standard Version
When a message from the LORD came to Hosea, the LORD told him, "Go marry a prostitute and have children with her, because the land is prostituting itself by departing from the LORD."

JPS Tanakh 1917
When the LORD spoke at first with Hosea, the LORD said unto Hosea: 'Go, take unto thee a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry; for the land doth commit great harlotry, departing from the LORD.'

Literal Standard Version
The commencement of YHWH’s speaking by Hosea. And YHWH says to Hosea, “Go, take a woman of whoredoms for yourself, and children of whoredoms, for the land goes utterly whoring from after YHWH.”

Majority Standard Bible
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

New American Bible
When the LORD began to speak with Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: Go, get for yourself a woman of prostitution and children of prostitution, for the land prostitutes itself, turning away from the LORD.

NET Bible
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, "Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the LORD."

New Revised Standard Version
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”

New Heart English Bible
When the LORD spoke at the first by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking the LORD."

Webster's Bible Translation
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go take to thee a wife addicted to lewdness and children of lewdness; for the land hath committed great lewdness, departing from the LORD.

World English Bible
When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.”

Young's Literal Translation
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.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Hosea's Wife and Children
1This is the word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel. 2When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.” 3So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 31:16
And the LORD said to Moses, "You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

Jeremiah 3:1
"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers--and you would return to Me?" declares the LORD.

Ezekiel 23:3
and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

Hosea 2:5
For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.'

Hosea 3:1
Then the LORD said to me, "Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols."

Hosea 5:3
I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.


Treasury of Scripture

The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take to you a wife of prostitutions and children of prostitutions: for the land has committed great prostitution, departing from the LORD.

beginning.

Mark 1:1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

Go.

Hosea 3:1
Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

See on.

Isaiah 20:2,3
At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot…

Jeremiah 13:1-11
Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water…

Ezekiel 4:1-5:17
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: …

a wife.

children.

Hosea 2:4
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.

2 Peter 2:14
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

for.

Exodus 34:15,16
Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; …

Deuteronomy 31:16
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

2 Chronicles 21:13
But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself:

Jump to Previous
Addicted Adultery Beginning Children Commit Commits Committed Departing First Flagrant Forsaking Great Harlotry Hosea Hose'a Lewdness Prostitution Speak Unfaithfulness Whoredom Whoredoms Wife Word
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Addicted Adultery Beginning Children Commit Commits Committed Departing First Flagrant Forsaking Great Harlotry Hosea Hose'a Lewdness Prostitution Speak Unfaithfulness Whoredom Whoredoms Wife Word
Hosea 1
1. Hosea, to show God's judgment for spiritual unfaithfulness, takes Gomer,
4. and has by her Jezreel;
6. Loruhamah;
8. and Lo-Ammi.
10. The restoration of Judah and Israel under one head.














(2) The beginning of the word . . .--More correctly, In the beginning when the Lord spoke to Hosea, the Lord said . . .

Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.--How are we to interpret the prophet's marriage to the licentious Gomer? Is it an historic occurrence, the only too real tragedy of the author's personal experience, employed for the purpose of illustration? (Comp. the domestic incident, Isaiah 8:1-4.) Or is this opening chapter a merely allegorical representation, designed to exhibit in vivid colours the terrible moral condition of Israel? (Comp. the symbolic actions described in Jeremiah 25:15-29; Ezekiel 4:4-6; and perhaps Isaiah 20:1-3.) Able writers have advocated each of these opposed theories; but in our opinion the balance of evidence inclines to the former view, which regards the events as historic. The further question arises, Was Gomer guilty before or after the marriage? The former supposition involves the harshness of conceiving such a marriage as the result of a Divine command; but the latter supposition admits of a satisfactory interpretation. The wickedness which after marriage revealed itself to the prophet's agonised heart was transfigured to the inspired seer into an emblem of his nation's wrong to Jehovah. In the light of this great idea, the prophet's past came before him in changed aspect. As he reflected on the marvellous symbolic adaptation of this episode to the terrible spiritual needs of his fellow-countrymen, which he was called by God to supply, the Divine purpose which shaped his sorrowful career became interpreted to his glowing consciousness as a Divine command--"Go, take unto thyself a wife of whoredoms." He had suffered acutely, but the agony was part of God's arrangement, and the very love that was repeatedly outraged proves ultimately to have been suggested by a Divine monition.

Children of whoredoms.--Children of Hosea's marriage. The whole result of his family history was included in this divinely ordered plan.

Verse 2. - The beginning of the word of the Lord by (literally, in) Hosea. These words may be rendered at once more literally and more exactly,

(1) "The beginning (of that which) Jehovah spoke by Hosea." Thus Gesenius translates, understanding ashen, which is often omitted as a pronoun in the nominative or accusative, indicating relation, and as including the antecedent personal or demonstrative pronoun. When the pronoun thus supplied is in the genitive, the preceding noun is in the construct state, as here.

(2) Rosenmüller, without necessity, takes the noun in the adverbial sense; thus: "In the beginning Jehovah spake by Hosea." He also suggests the possibility of dibber being a noun of the same meaning as dabar, but of different formation; while in two manuscripts of De Rossi and one of Kennicott the regular form of the construct state of davar is expressed.

(3) Keil takes the noun as an accusative of time, and accounts for its construct state by the substantival idea of the succeeding subordinated clause; thus: "At the commencement of ' Jehovah spake,' Jehovah said to him." But what is the beginning here mentioned? It cannot mean that Hoses was the first of the prophets by whom God made known his will to Israel, or the first of the minor prophets; for Jonah, as is rightly inferred from 2 Kings 14:25, preceded him; Joel also is usually regarded as before him in point of time; neither can it denote his priority to Isaiah and Amos, who also prophesied in the days of Uzziah. The plain meaning is that which becomes obvious when we adopt the right rendering of Gesenius, as given above, that is, the beginning of the prophecies which Hoses was commissioned by Jehovah to make known. The peculiarity of the expression, "in Hosea," as the word literally means, deserves attention. Maurer compares Numbers 12:2, 6, and 8, to prove that the expression signifies speaking to rather than in or by; he also cites other passages to the same purpose, But while the verb "to speak," followed by b5 and the verb constructed with el, may coincide in signification at a certain point, it does not thence follow that they are everywhere and always synonymous. Long ago Jerome drew attention to the distinction which this difference of construction suggests. "It is one thing," says that Father, "for the Lord to speak in Hosea, another to speak to . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When the LORD
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

first
תְּחִלַּ֥ת (tə·ḥil·laṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8462: A commencement, rel, original

spoke
דִּבֶּר־ (dib·ber-)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

to Hosea,
בְּהוֹשֵׁ֑עַ (bə·hō·wō·šê·a‘)
Preposition-b | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1954: Hoshea -- 'salvation', the name of several Israelites

He
יְהוָ֜ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

told
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

him,
הוֹשֵׁ֗עַ (hō·wō·šê·a‘)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1954: Hoshea -- 'salvation', the name of several Israelites

“Go,
לֵ֣ךְ (lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

take
קַח־ (qaḥ-)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

a prostitute
זְנוּנִים֙ (zə·nū·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2183: Adultery, idolatry

as your
לְךָ֞ (lə·ḵā)
Preposition | second person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

wife
אֵ֤שֶׁת (’ê·šeṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

and have children
וְיַלְדֵ֣י (wə·yal·ḏê)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3206: Something born, a lad, offspring

of adultery,
זְנוּנִ֔ים (zə·nū·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2183: Adultery, idolatry

because
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

this land
הָאָ֔רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

is flagrantly prostituting itself
זָנֹ֤ה (zā·nōh)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 2181: To commit adultery, to commit idolatry

[by departing] from
מֵֽאַחֲרֵ֖י (mê·’a·ḥă·rê)
Preposition-m
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

the LORD.”
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


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OT Prophets: Hosea 1:2 When Yahweh spoke at the first (Ho Hs Hos.)
Hosea 1:1
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