Hosea 2:3 (DBY)

Passage

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 as a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

Nearby Context

Hosea 2:1 Say unto your brethren Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

Hosea 2:2 Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Hosea 2:3 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 as a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

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

Hosea 2:5 For their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lest", "strip", "naked", "born", "make", "wilderness", "land", and "slay". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lest" and "strip", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Plead with your mother plead for she..." into verse 4's "And I will not have mercy upon...", so "lest" and "strip" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "lest" and "strip" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.