Hosea 2:7 (YLT)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

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.

Hosea 2:8 And she knew not that I had given to her, The corn, and the new wine, and the oil. Yea, silver I did multiply to her, And the gold they prepared for Baal.

Hosea 2:9 Therefore do I turn back, And I have taken My corn in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hath", "pursued", "lovers", "doth", "overtake", and "sought". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hath" and "pursued", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "Therefore lo I am hedging up thy..." into verse 8's "And she knew not that I had...", so "hath" and "pursued" 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 "hath" and "pursued" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.