Hosea 2:5 (YLT)

Passage

For gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath said, I go after my lovers, Those giving 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 have set her up as <FI>in<Fi> the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

Hosea 2:4 And her sons I do not pity, For sons of whoredoms <FI>are<Fi> they,

Hosea 2:5 For gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

Hosea 2:6 Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find.

Hosea 2:7 And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For--better to me then than now.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "gone", "a-whoring", "hath", "mother", "acted", "shamefully", and "conceiver". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "gone" and "a-whoring", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And her sons I do not pity..." into verse 6's "Therefore lo I am hedging up thy...", so "gone" and "a-whoring" 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 "gone" and "a-whoring" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.