“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
Parallel translations
- WEB “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’
- KJV Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
- NKJV Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ And to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’
- NASB Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
- NLT “In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God tells the people to rename one another 'My people' and 'My loved one,' reversing the judgment-names of chapter one. The verdict of rejection is overturned by grace.
Overview
The names Lo-Ammi ('not my people') and Lo-Ruhamah ('not loved') are here turned into Ammi and Ruhamah, declarations of belonging and compassion. This anticipates the restoration God will accomplish, in which the covenant relationship is renewed. The reversal embodies the gospel pattern in which those once estranged are welcomed back, a truth fulfilled in Christ who makes a people for God out of those who had no claim on Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Pet 2:10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- Hos 2:23And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
- 1 Tim 1:13I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- Rom 11:30–31Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience,
- Ezek 37:27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- Zech 13:9This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
- Ezek 36:28Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.
- 2 Cor 4:1Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
- Hos 1:9–11And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.
- Jer 32:38They will be My people, and I will be their God.
- Ezek 11:20so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
- Jer 31:33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- Exod 19:5–6Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 2:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.