What Does Hosea 1:6 Mean in the King James?
And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The daughter is born from a womb and named with the same root that carries both womb and compassion, so the verse makes withdrawn compassion audible at birth.
THE MEANING
The reader meets Lo-ruhamah as a name that says “not shown compassion.” The declaration extends that condition from the child’s name to the whole house of Israel, and its final clause holds the withdrawal beside the taking away. The verse speaks the cost without softening it.
THE ROOT
לֹא רֻחָמָה
lōʾ ruḥāmāh
GROWS FROM
רחם
r-ḥ-m
Womb; tender compassion.
“Lo-ruhamah” in this verse is lōʾ ruḥāmāh. Lo-ruḥāmāh means “not compassioned”; its root also appears in words for womb and compassion. The daughter born in this verse is named through a root that holds both together, making the withheld compassion bodily and personal rather than abstract.
ALSO GROWS
rechem: Womb
רֶחֶם
The same consonants make the daughter’s birth and her name’s denial of compassion sound together.
rachum: Compassionate, tenderly merciful
רַחוּם
This related form makes visible the quality that Lo-ruhamah’s name says is withheld.
נָשֹׂא אֶשָּׂא
nāśōʾ ʾeśśāʾ
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
Lift, carry, bear.
““Take them away”” in this verse is nāśōʾ ʾeśśāʾ. The Hebrew doubles the verb for emphasis, and its root means to lift, carry, or bear; the KJV gives that movement as “utterly take them away.” A related form can name a burden carried, keeping the physical weight of removal audible.
ALSO GROWS
maśśāʾ: Load, burden
מַשָּׂא
The related noun makes carrying concrete: what is lifted can be a weight.
nōśēʾ ʿāwōn: Bearing crookedness
נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן
This phrase applies the same carrying root to crookedness, showing that the verb can carry a burden as well as describe removal.
THE PATTERN
A scriptural name can carry a condition or promise into the person’s identity.
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.THE THREAD
And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.The Hebrew word behind “did yearn” comes from the same root as Lo-ruhamah’s name: רחם, compassion. Where Hosea names compassion withheld, Genesis gives that same root as visceral yearning, making compassion sound and feel bodily.
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