Read | Hosea 2:1–23
Call your brothers: My People
and your sisters: Compassion.
Rebuke your mother; rebuke her.
For she is not my wife and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face
and her adultery from between her breasts.
Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.
I will have no compassion on her children
because they are the children of promiscuity.
Yes, their mother is promiscuous;
she conceived them and acted shamefully.
For she thought, “I will follow my lovers,
the men who give me my food and water,
my wool and flax, my oil and drink.”
Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her way with thorns;
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths.
She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will think,
“I will go back to my former husband,
for then it was better for me than now.”
She does not recognize
that it is I who gave her the grain,
the new wine, and the fresh oil.
I lavished silver and gold on her,
which they used for Baal.
Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time
and my new wine in its season;
I will take away my wool and linen,
which were to cover her nakedness.
Now I will expose her shame
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from my power.
I will put an end to all her celebrations:
her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—
all her festivals.
I will devastate her vines and fig trees.
She thinks that these are her wages
that her lovers have given her.
I will turn them into a thicket,
and the wild animals will eat them.
And I will punish her for the days of the Baals,
to which she burned incense.
She put on her rings and her jewelry
and followed her lovers,
but she forgot me.This is the LORD’s declaration.
Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her vineyards back to her
and make the Valley of Achor
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
In that day—this is the LORD’s declaration—
you will call me “my husband”
and no longer call me “my Baal.”
For I will remove the names of the Baals
from her mouth;
they will no longer be remembered by their names.
On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
I will shatter bow, sword,
and weapons of war in the land
and will enable the people to rest securely.
I will take you to be my wife forever.
I will take you to be my wife in righteousness,
justice, love, and compassion.
I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness,
and you will know the LORD.
On that day I will respond—this is the LORD’s declaration.
I will respond to the sky,
and it will respond to the earth.
The earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine, and the fresh oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
I will sow her in the land for myself,
and I will have compassion
on Lo-ruhamah;
I will say to Lo-ammi:
You are my people,
and he will say, “You are my God.”
Click here to listen to the Scripture in ESV.
Focus
View this work of art, Hosea (O Israel), by Lauren Stevens, connected to Sunday’s sermon passage.
.jpg?width=615&height=838&name=Lauren%20Stevens%20-%20Hosea%20(O%20Israel).jpg)
As you look at this week’s piece, take a few quiet moments to notice details, colors, or emotions that stand out to you. Ask God what he might be saying through the image, and listen for his insight in your thoughts, feelings, or prayers.
Commentary:
Lauren Stevens is a printmaker and artist who graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2021 with a BFA in printmaking and recently earned an MFA in printmaking from Arizona State University. This piece was created as part of her graduate degree work.
Much of this etching is dominated by the design of a veil taken from the fabric of a friend’s wedding gown. A process called soft-ground etching was used to transfer the textile pattern directly to the plate using an acid bath. The presence of the wedding fabric is a reminder that the church is the bride of Christ. The hands and intertwined feet are a subtle representation of the intimacy of marriage and the ultimate desire that God has for his people.
Only Hosea’s face is visible, reminding the viewer that he remains faithful to Gomer as God remains faithful to his people.
This etching will be on display as part of a solo exhibit featuring Lauren’s work at Four Chapter Gallery from June 5–August 30, 2026.
Art Source: Hosea (O Israel), Lauren Stevens, 2025. Used by permission. laurenstevensart.com
Pray
Thank God for his reconciling love, and ask him to renew your assurance.
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.
