Hosea 2:4 (GNV)

Passage

And I wil haue no pitie vpon her children: for they be the children of fornications.

Nearby Context

Hosea 2:2 Plead with your mother: plead with her: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: but let her take away her fornications out of her sight, and her adulteries from betweene her breasts.

Hosea 2:3 Lest I strippe her naked, and set her as in the day that shee was borne, and make her as a wildernes, and leaue her like a drie land, and slaie her for thirst.

Hosea 2:4 And I wil haue no pitie vpon her children: for they be the children of fornications.

Hosea 2:5 For their mother hath plaied the harlot: she that conceiued them, hath done shamefully: for shee said, I will goe after my louers that giue me my bread and my water, my wooll and my flaxe, mine oyle and my drinke.

Hosea 2:6 Therefore beholde, I will stoope thy way with thornes, and make an hedge, that shee shall not finde her pathes.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "haue", "pitie", "vpon", "children", and "fornications". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "haue" and "pitie", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Lest I strippe her naked and set..." into verse 5's "For their mother hath plaied the harlot...", so "haue" and "pitie" 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 "haue" and "pitie" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.