What Does Hosea 2:2 Mean in the King James?
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
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 repeated “plead” is רִיב (rîb, dispute or contend), so the verse makes the broken bond itself the charge brought into the open.
THE MEANING
The verse names the bond as broken: “she is not my wife, neither am I her husband.” The repeated plea brings the rupture into speech, while “whoredoms” and “adulteries” keep the charge explicitly sexual and embodied. The estrangement is not softened into mere distance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that sexual betrayal can continue while the bond remains intact is undone: the verse states that the marriage is no longer claimed and names the betrayal directly.
THE ROOT
רִיבוּ
rîḇû
GROWS FROM
ריב
To contend, dispute, or bring a case forward.
English “plead” can sound like a soft appeal, but רִיב (rîb, dispute or contend) also names a controversy brought forward and argued. Repeating רִיבוּ (rîḇû, contend or plead) gives the call the force of a dispute voiced openly: the estrangement is stated and the accusation is not hidden.
ALSO GROWS
mĕrîḇâ: Quarrel, dispute, or strife.
מְרִיבָה
This noun names the dispute itself, showing that the plea in the verse is already a controversy.
yārîḇ: He contends or argues.
יָרִיב
This verb preserves the root’s adversarial force: the call is for the dispute to be voiced.
זְנוּנֶיהָ
zĕnûnêhā
GROWS FROM
זנה
To act as a prostitute or commit sexual unfaithfulness.
“Whoredoms” in this verse is zĕnûnêhā. The verse does not soften the charge into a general idea of disloyalty: זְנוּנֶיהָ (zĕnûnêhā, her acts of prostitution or sexual unfaithfulness) keeps its sexual force. The related word זוֹנָה (zônāh, prostitute) makes the accusation embodied and relational.
ALSO GROWS
zānāh: To act as a prostitute or commit sexual unfaithfulness.
זָנָה
This verb names the act behind the accusation in the verse.
zônāh: A prostitute; a woman who commits sexual unfaithfulness.
זוֹנָה
This related noun keeps the verse’s charge attached to a person and a relationship, rather than leaving it abstract.
THE PATTERN
A breach becomes visible when it is named directly and brought into a hearing where it can be answered.
Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.THE THREAD
Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.Micah uses the same Hebrew root ריב (rîb, dispute or contend) for “controversy” and “plead.” That shared word gives Hosea’s plea the force of a dispute brought forward and heard, rather than a private appeal.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us