Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’
- BSB “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
- 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 2:10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
- Hos 2:23And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
- 1 Tim 1:13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- Rom 11:30–31For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
- Ezek 37:27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Zech 13:9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
- Ezek 36:28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
- 2 Cor 4:1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
- Hos 1:9–11Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
- Jer 32:38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
- Ezek 11:20That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
- Jer 31:33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.