Hosea 2:4-6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
The Lord and Israel His Spouse[a]
4 Accuse your mother, accuse!
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.[b]
Let her remove her prostitution from her face.
her adultery from between her breasts,
5 Or I will strip her naked,[c]
leaving her as on the day of her birth;
I will make her like the wilderness,
make her like an arid land,
and let her die of thirst.
6 I will have no pity on her children,
for they are children of prostitution.
Footnotes
- 2:4–25 The section contains three oracles of doom (vv. 4–6, 7–9, 10–15), a transition (vv. 16–17), and three oracles of salvation (vv. 18–19, 20–22, 23–25).
- 2:4 The Lord speaks of Israel, still using the example of Hosea’s wife.
- 2:5 I will strip her naked: it was the husband’s responsibility to provide food and clothing for his wife (Ex 21:10) and now, because of her adultery, he takes back his support.
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