Year of the Bible
Hosea 2
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Commentary on the Book of Hosea, Chapter 2:
God continues to use Hosea’s family situation as a symbol for Israel. Just as Hosea’s wife is a harlot breaking her covenantal marriage vows, the people of Israel are breaking the Covenant they have with God by seeking other gods. Although Hosea’s words are directed toward his spouse, they are also intended for God’s people. The word therefore in verse 6 links the unfaithful actions of the previous verses to the consequences in the following verses. After stripping away the supposed goodness achieved through unfaithfulness, God explains that a change will come when He brings her, that is, His people, to the wilderness, a symbolic location in the Bible for meeting God. This meeting will lead to renewal of the Covenant as God espouses His people forever and with righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, and knowledge of God. The chapter concludes with even more hope as God promises to overturn the negative names given to Hosea’s children in chapter 1.
The Book of Hosea, Chapter 2:
Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption
1 Say to your brother, “My people,” and to your sister,
“She has obtained pity.”
2 “Plead with your mother,
plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband— that she put away her harlotry
from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and set her like a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 Upon her children also I will have no pity,
because they are children of harlotry.
5 For their mother has played the harlot;
she that conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil
and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns;
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her
paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them;
and she shall seek them,
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, ‘I will go
and return to my first
husband,
for it was better with me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the
oil,
and who lavished upon her silver
and gold which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool
and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her
out of my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts.
12 And I will lay waste her vines
and her fig trees,
of which she said, ‘These are my hire,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field
shall devour them.
13- And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned incense to them
and decked herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. 18 And I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish h the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will espouse you for ever; I will espouse you in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. 20 I will espouse you in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.
21 “And in that day, says the Lord,
I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the
earth;
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel;
23 and I will sow him for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Not pitied,
and I will say to Not my people, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say ‘You are my God.’ ”
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
Re-read vs 14-20 as the Lord speaks of alluring us back to himself as in a marital covenant, destroying our idols and adulterous ways, how do you receive this passage? What emotions do you experience with this?
Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
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1 El número de los hijos de Israel
será como la arena del mar,
que no tiene medida,
ni se puede contar.
Y allí donde se les decía
vosotros sois «No-mi-Pueblo»,
se les dirá «Hijos-del-Dios-Vivo».
2Se juntarán en uno los hijos de Judá
y los hijos de Israel;
instituirán para sí
una única cabeza,
y tomarán posesión de la tierra,
porque grande será el día de Yizreel.
3Decid a vuestros hermanos:
«Mi-pueblo»,
y a vuestras hermanas: «Compadecida
».
Comportamiento del esposo con la
esposa infiel
4Pleitead con vuestra madre, pleitead,
que ella no es mi mujer,
ni yo soy su marido;
que se quite de la cara sus prostituciones
y de los pechos sus adulterios,
5no sea que la deje desnuda,
y la exponga como el día en que nació,
y la vuelva como un desierto,
la convierta en tierra yerma,
y le haga morir de sed.
6No tendré compasión de sus hijos,
porque son hijos de prostitución,
7porque su madre se ha prostituido,
se ha deshonrado la que los concibió,
pues se decía:
«Me iré tras mis amantes,
los que me dan mi pan y mi agua,
mi lana y mi lino,
mi aceite y mi bebida».
8Por eso, voy a vallar
con zarzas sus caminos,
la cercaré de tapias
y no encontrará sus senderos.
9Irá tras sus amantes,
pero no los alcanzará;
los buscará, pero no los encontrará.
Entonces se dirá:
«Voy a volver a mi primer marido,
que entonces me iba mejor que ahora
».
10No conocía ella
que era Yo quien le daba
el trigo, el mosto y el aceite,
el que le prodigaba la plata y el oro,
que empleaban para Baal.
11Por eso, volveré a quitarle
mi trigo a su tiempo
y mi mosto en su sazón;
le arrebataré mi lana y mi lino,
con que cubría su desnudez.
12Ahora descubriré sus vergüenzas
a los ojos de sus amantes,
y nadie la librará de mi mano.
13Haré que cesen todos sus regocijos,
sus fiestas, sus novilunios, sus sábados,
y todas sus solemnidades.
14Arrasaré sus vides y sus higueras,
de las que decía:
«Ellas son mi salario,
el que me han dado mis amantes».
Pero Yo las cambiaré en selva,
y se las comerán las bestias del campo.
15Le pediré cuenta de los días dedicados
a los baales,
a los que quemaba incienso,
en los que se adornaba de anillos y
collares
y se iba tras sus amantes,
mientras a Mí me olvidaba
–oráculo del Señor–.
Restauración y Nueva Alianza
16Por eso, Yo mismo la seduciré,
la conduciré al desierto
y le hablaré al corazón.
17Y desde allí le daré sus viñas
y el valle de Acor será puerta de esperanza;
allí me responderá como en los días
de su juventud,
como el día que subió de la tierra de
Egipto.
18Sucederá que aquel día
–oráculo del Señor–
me llamarás «Marido mío»,
y no me llamarás más «Baal mío».
19Quitaré de su boca los nombres de
los baales,
y no serán ya mencionados sus
nombres.
20Aquel día
sellaré a favor de ellos un pacto
con las bestias del campo,
con las aves del cielo
y los reptiles de la tierra;
arco, espada y guerra
eliminaré de la tierra,
y haré que reposen tranquilos.
21Te desposaré conmigo para siempre,
te desposaré conmigo en justicia y
derecho,
en amor y misericordia.
22Te desposaré conmigo en fidelidad,
y conocerás al Señor.
23Aquel día Yo responderé
–oráculo del Señor–:
responderé a los cielos,
y éstos responderán a la tierra,
24la tierra responderá al trigo,
al mosto y al aceite,
y éstos responderán a Yizreel.
25Yo la sembraré para Mí en la tierra;
tendré compasión de «No-Compadecida
»,
y diré a «No-mi-Pueblo»:
Tú eres «Mi-Pueblo»;
y él exclamará:
«¡Dios mío!»
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
Vuelve a leer los versículos 14-20 cuando el Señor habla de atraernos de nuevo a sí mismo como en un pacto matrimonial, destruyendo nuestros ídolos y caminos adúlteros, ¿cómo recibes este pasaje? ¿Qué emociones experimentas con esto?
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).