Hosea 2:3 kjv
Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
Hosea 2:3 nkjv
Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.
Hosea 2:3 niv
Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst.
Hosea 2:3 esv
lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst.
Hosea 2:3 nlt
Otherwise, I will strip her as naked
as she was on the day she was born.
I will leave her to die of thirst,
as in a dry and barren wilderness.
Hosea 2 3 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Hos 2:9-10 | "Therefore I will take back my grain... and will expose her lewdness..." | Divine stripping of blessings and public shame. |
| Jer 13:26 | "I myself will lift up your skirts over your face... your shame." | Prophetic imagery of public exposure for Judah's harlotry. |
| Lam 1:8 | "Jerusalem sinned grievously... she is naked." | Humiliation and shame due to sin and conquest. |
| Ez 16:37, 39 | "I will gather all your lovers... and expose your nakedness..." | God revealing Jerusalem's spiritual prostitution. |
| Ez 23:29 | "I will deal with you in hatred... and leave you naked and bare." | Judgment on Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Jerusalem). |
| Rev 3:18 | "clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness may not be seen..." | Spiritual nakedness (lack of righteousness) and call for repentance. |
| Isa 5:6 | "I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed..." | Desolation of a vineyard due to disobedience. |
| Jer 4:26 | "I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert..." | Israel's land becoming desolate due to divine wrath. |
| Joel 1:17 | "The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate..." | Extreme desolation and barrenness as a judgment. |
| Dt 29:23 | "the whole land burned out with sulfur and salt, nothing planted..." | Covenant curse leading to environmental devastation. |
| Isa 41:17 | "The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues parch." | Description of severe thirst and need, often metaphorical. |
| Amo 8:11-12 | "Not a famine of bread... but of hearing the words of the LORD." | Spiritual thirst for God's word as a judgment. |
| Dt 30:19 | "I have set before you life and death... choose life..." | The two paths of covenant (blessings/curses). |
| Lev 26:33 | "I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out the sword..." | Covenant curses, including desolation of land. |
| Gen 2:25 | "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." | Original state of innocence, contrasted with Hosea 2:3's forced shame. |
| Dt 28:48 | "Therefore you shall serve your enemies in hunger and thirst and nakedness." | Comprehensive list of covenant curses upon disobedience. |
| Jer 2:13 | "They have forsaken me... and hewed out broken cisterns that hold no water." | The spiritual folly of forsaking God for empty idols leading to thirst. |
| Ez 36:35 | "And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden.'" | Prophecy of future restoration, reversing the desolation. |
| Isa 35:7 | "The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water." | Image of renewal and provision in the Messiah's kingdom, contrasting Hosea 2:3. |
| Ez 16:6 | "When I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you..." | God finding Israel as an abandoned, naked infant, showing initial grace. |
| Job 1:21 | "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there." | Universal human condition of vulnerability and dependence. |
| Prov 7:13 | "She caught him and kissed him; with an impudent face she said to him..." | Character of a harlot who uses overt sexual signals. |
Hosea 2 verses
Hosea 2 3 Meaning
Hosea 2:3 depicts the severe consequences of Israel's spiritual harlotry, portraying a divine judgment that involves public humiliation, utter destitution, and widespread desolation. God threatens to strip Israel bare, reducing her to the vulnerable state she was in at birth, and to transform her land into a barren, waterless desert, ultimately leading to her death by thirst. This signifies a complete reversal of divine blessings and a powerful metaphor for the covenant consequences of national idolatry and unfaithfulness.
Hosea 2 3 Context
Hosea 2:3 is part of God's 'covenant lawsuit' (Hebrew: rib) against unfaithful Israel, portrayed through the powerful analogy of Hosea's marriage to the unfaithful Gomer. Following the threat to cease displaying mercy (v. 1), verse 3 articulates the specific, devastating judgments Israel will face if she continues to pursue her 'lovers' (Baals and foreign nations). This verse immediately follows God's direct confrontation of His "wife" (Israel/mother) for her prostitution and calling for the children to separate themselves from their mother's unfaithfulness. The historical context is Israel's widespread apostasy, engaging in fertility cults (especially Baal worship) while crediting the Baals, not Yahweh, for their agricultural bounty and prosperity. The verse functions as a polemic, directly challenging the efficacy of Baal, who was supposedly the provider of rain, fertility, and abundance, by threatening to strip away all the blessings attributed to him and plunge the land into barrenness. It highlights God's ownership and sovereign control over nature and prosperity.
Hosea 2 3 Word analysis
- lest (Hebrew: פֶּן֙ - pen): This conjunction introduces a negative consequence or a warning, emphasizing the preventative purpose of God's prior statement (in 2:2) to confront His 'wife.' It signals the severe outcomes if her harlotry persists.
- I strip her naked (Hebrew: אַפְשִׁטֶ֥נָּה - afshiṭénāh): From the verb פָּשַׁט (pashat), meaning "to strip off," "to pull off." Here it signifies the forceful removal of clothing, signifying utter public humiliation, shame, and the loss of protection, dignity, and any perceived security or prosperity she boasted in. This is an act of judgment and public shaming in the ancient Near East, revealing one's utter defenselessness.
- and expose her (Hebrew: וְהִצִּגְתִּ֧יהָ - wəhiṣṣígtíhā): From the verb יָצַג (yatsag), meaning "to set up," "to put," "to expose." This reinforces the public and intentional nature of her humiliation, not just a passive stripping, but an active display of her shame to all.
- as in the day she was born (Hebrew: כְּי֣וֹם הִוָּלְדָּ֑הּ - kəyom hiwwaldāh): This vivid image depicts complete and utter nakedness, vulnerability, and helplessness, without any possessions, covering, or means of support. It recalls a state of absolute destitution, reflecting Israel's original status as a defenseless, abandoned infant (as depicted in Ez 16:4-6) before God intervened and provided for her. This judgment means being stripped of all the blessings and adornments God had bestowed upon her since her inception as a nation.
- and make her like a wilderness (Hebrew: וְשַׂמְתִּ֙יהָ֙ כַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר - wəśamtíhā kammidbār): From the verb שִׂים (sim), "to put," "to make," and the noun מִדְבָּר (midbār), "wilderness," "desert." This signifies a radical transformation of her lush, cultivated land into a barren, uninhabitable waste. It directly counters Israel's reliance on Baal for fertility, asserting Yahweh's sovereign control over the land's fruitfulness.
- and make her like a parched land (Hebrew: וְאֶפְשִׁיטֶ֣נָּה כְּאֶ֤רֶץ צִיָּה֙ - wə'efshiṭenah kə'ereṣ tsiyyāh): The verb שָׁתָה (shatah), related to the previous "make," further specifies the desolation. צִיָּה (tsiyyāh) means "dry land," "parched ground." This imagery emphasizes extreme drought and lack of life-sustaining water, making the land unproductive and uninhabitable.
- and kill her with thirst (Hebrew: וְהִמַּתִּ֥יהָ בַצָּמָֽא׃ - wəhimmatíhā baṣṣāmā): From the verb מות (mut), "to die," in the Hiphil causative form, "to cause to die," "to kill," and the noun צָמָא (tsāmā), "thirst." This is the ultimate and most severe consequence, indicating the cessation of all life due to the lack of the most basic necessity. This can be interpreted literally as death by starvation and dehydration caused by drought, or metaphorically as the spiritual death brought by the absence of God's life-giving presence and word.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- "lest I strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born": This phrase details the initial, humiliating act of judgment. It signifies a complete stripping away of dignity, provision, and any false identity, reducing Israel to her original state of vulnerability and complete dependence, albeit now under judgment rather than grace. It reflects ancient judicial practice where prostitutes were publicly shamed by stripping.
- "and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land": These two parallel clauses describe the devastating environmental and economic consequences. The promised land, flowing with milk and honey, would become barren and lifeless, demonstrating God's ultimate authority over all creation and prosperity, directly refuting the claims of Baal's power. It implies the reversal of blessings tied to the Mosaic covenant.
- "and kill her with thirst": This phrase delivers the ultimate blow, signifying a total cessation of life and prosperity. It is a terrifying consequence, encompassing not only physical death from drought but also spiritual death from being cut off from the true source of life and truth, contrasting sharply with God as the fountain of living waters.
Hosea 2 3 Bonus section
The judicial language and imagery in Hosea 2:3 are consistent with ancient Near Eastern covenant curses and legal codes concerning adulterous wives. Public stripping and exposure were common penalties for adultery, signifying shame, disgrace, and loss of property rights. The curses on the land reflect those found in the Mosaic covenant (Lev 26, Dt 28), emphasizing that Israel's well-being was contingent on her fidelity to Yahweh. The 'thirst' can also allude to a famine of the word of God, as Amos later prophesied, a deeper spiritual emptiness resulting from forsaking the true God. The reversal of fortunes – from a land of blessing to a parched desert – is a direct and forceful refutation of the false gods like Baal, showing their impotence against Yahweh's supreme power. The harshness of the imagery serves to highlight the depths of God's betrayal felt by Israel's spiritual adultery.
Hosea 2 3 Commentary
Hosea 2:3 graphically portrays God's righteous wrath against Israel's idolatry. The intensity of the language underscores the gravity of covenant unfaithfulness. The judgment is multifaceted: a public spectacle of humiliation (stripping naked), ecological devastation (wilderness, parched land), and ultimate demise (death by thirst). This punishment directly attacks the very domains Israel believed Baal controlled – fertility and rain – thereby dismantling their false hopes and proving Yahweh's exclusive sovereignty. It reveals God's commitment to His covenant, demonstrating that His love does not preclude severe discipline when His people break faith, aiming to bring them to repentance through an experience of profound loss and destitution. It also highlights the principle that departing from the source of life inevitably leads to desolation and death.