Hosea 2:5 (LSB)

Passage

For their mother has played the harlot; She who 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.’

Nearby Context

Hosea 2:3 Lest I strip her naked And set her forth as on the day when she was born And make her like a wilderness And make her like dry land And put her to death with thirst.

Hosea 2:4 Also, I will have no compassion on her children Because they are children of harlotry.

Hosea 2:5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who 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.’

Hosea 2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.

Hosea 2:7 So she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go, and I will return to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now!’

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mother", "played", "harlot", "conceived", "acted", "shamefully", "said", and "after". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mother" and "played", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Also I will have no compassion on..." into verse 6's "Therefore behold I will hedge up her...", so "mother" and "played" 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 "mother" and "played" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.