◄ Hosea 2:3 ►
Verse  (Click for Chapter)
New International Version
Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst.

New Living Translation
Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness.

English Standard Version
lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst.

Berean Standard Bible
Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

King James Bible
Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

New King James Version
Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.

New American Standard Bible
Otherwise, I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And put her to death with thirst.

NASB 1995
Or I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land And slay her with thirst.

NASB 1977
Lest I strip her naked And expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And slay her with thirst.

Legacy Standard Bible
Lest I strip her naked And set her forth as on the day when she was born And make her like a wilderness And make her like dry land And put her to death with thirst.

Amplified Bible
Or I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness And make her like a parched land And slay her with thirst.

Christian Standard Bible
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
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.

American Standard Version
lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

Contemporary English Version
or I will strip her naked like the day she was born. I will make her barren like a desert, and she will die of thirst.

English Revised Version
lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
If she refuses, I will strip her. I will leave her as naked as the day she was born. I will turn her into a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst.

Good News Translation
If she does not, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will make her like a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst.

International Standard Version
Otherwise, I'll strip her naked— as she was on the day she was born— make her like a wilderness, turn her into a parched land, and cause her to die of thirst.

Majority Standard Bible
Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

NET Bible
Otherwise, I will strip her naked, and expose her like she was when she was born. I will turn her land into a wilderness and make her country a parched land, so that I might kill her with thirst.

New Heart English Bible
Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

Webster's Bible Translation
Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

World English Bible
lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as [in] the day of her birth, "" And have made her as a wilderness, "" And have set her as a dry land, "" And have put her to death with thirst.

Young's Literal Translation
Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as in the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

Smith's Literal Translation
Lest I shall strip her naked, and I set her as the day of her birth, and I set her as a desert, and I set her as a land of dryness, and I slew her with thirst.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born: and I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land that none can pass through, and will kill her with drought.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.

New American Bible
Or I will strip her naked, leaving her as on the day of her birth; I will make her like the wilderness, make her like an arid land, and let her die of thirst.

New Revised Standard Version
or I will strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and turn her into a parched land, and kill her with thirst.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Lest I strip her naked and leave her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness and as a dry land, and cause her to die with thirst.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
That I will not strip her naked and I would leave her like the day in which she was born and I would make her as the wilderness and like the thirsty land and I would kill her with thirst
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Lest I strip her naked, And set her as in the day that she was born, And make her as a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
that I may strip her naked, and make her again as she was at the day of her birth: and I will make her desolate, and make her as a dry land, and will kill her with thirst.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel's Adultery Rebuked
…2Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst. 4I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.…
Berean Standard Bible · Download


Cross References
Ezekiel 16:39
Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

Ezekiel 23:26-29
They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry. / So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’ / For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust. ...

Isaiah 47:3
Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

Jeremiah 13:22
And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.

Nahum 3:5
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.

Deuteronomy 28:48
you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

Isaiah 3:17
the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”

Jeremiah 13:26
So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.

Micah 1:8
Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.

Revelation 3:17
You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

Revelation 17:16
And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

Matthew 24:19
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!

Luke 23:29
Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’

1 Corinthians 4:11
To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.


Treasury of Scripture

Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

I strip.

Hosea 2:10
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

Isaiah 47:3
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

Jeremiah 13:22,26
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare…

was born.

Ezekiel 16:4-8,22
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all…

as.

Isaiah 32:13,14
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: …

Isaiah 33:9
The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

Isaiah 64:10
Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

a dry.

Jeremiah 2:6
Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

Jeremiah 17:6
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Jeremiah 51:43
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

and slay.

Exodus 17:3
And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

Judges 15:18
And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

Amos 8:11-13
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: …

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Bare Birth Born Causing Death Desert Dry Expose Fear Kill Making Naked Need Otherwise Parched Robe Slay Strip Thirst Uncovered Waste Water Wilderness
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Bare Birth Born Causing Death Desert Dry Expose Fear Kill Making Naked Need Otherwise Parched Robe Slay Strip Thirst Uncovered Waste Water Wilderness
Hosea 2
1. The idolatry of the people.
6. God's judgments against them.
14. His promises of reconciliation with them.














Berean Study Bible
Or else I will strip her naked
This phrase is a vivid metaphor used by the prophet Hosea to convey the severity of Israel's spiritual adultery and the impending judgment from God. The Hebrew word for "strip" (פָּשַׁט, pashat) implies a complete removal, symbolizing the exposure of Israel's sins. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, nakedness was associated with shame and humiliation. This imagery reflects the consequences of Israel's unfaithfulness, as God warns of removing His protective covering, leaving the nation vulnerable and exposed.

and make her as bare as on the day she was born
The comparison to the day of birth emphasizes a return to a state of helplessness and dependency. In the Hebrew context, birth signifies a new beginning, but here it is used to illustrate a regression to a state of vulnerability. This phrase underscores the seriousness of Israel's spiritual condition, as God threatens to reduce them to a state of utter destitution, reminiscent of their origins as a nation without land or identity.

I will make her like a desert
The desert, or wilderness, in biblical terms, often symbolizes desolation and barrenness. The Hebrew word for desert (מִדְבָּר, midbar) conveys a place of isolation and testing. This imagery serves as a stark warning of the spiritual drought that results from turning away from God. Historically, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, a period of trial and dependence on God. Here, the desert metaphor highlights the consequences of forsaking the covenant relationship with God.

and turn her into a parched land
A parched land, devoid of water, represents a life without the sustenance of God's presence and blessings. The Hebrew term for "parched" (צִיָּה, tsiyyah) suggests extreme dryness and lifelessness. This imagery is a powerful reminder of the spiritual dehydration that occurs when God's people pursue idols and false gods. It serves as a call to repentance, urging Israel to return to the source of living water.

and I will let her die of thirst
The ultimate consequence of spiritual infidelity is death, symbolized here by dying of thirst. Thirst, in the biblical sense, often represents a deep longing for God. The Hebrew word for thirst (צָמָא, tsama) conveys an intense craving for sustenance. This phrase underscores the dire outcome of rejecting God, as spiritual thirst leads to spiritual death. It is a sobering reminder of the necessity of remaining in a covenant relationship with God to receive the life-giving water of His presence and grace.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(3) Set her . . .--Reduce Israel to the destitute exposed condition in which she struggled into being in Egyptian bondage, and endured the wanderings and terrors of the wilderness. Probably we have here an allusion to the custom of female infanticide, which still prevails very widely in the East, as it did in the ancient world, the child being simply abandoned to death on the day that she was born. (Comp. Ezekiel 16:4.)

Pulpit Commentary
Verse 3. - Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born. The Lord, by his servant the prophet, enforces the preceding exhortation by a stern denunciation, and the threat of further severities unless averted by repentance; as an injured husband withdraws from a faithless wife all the gifts and presents he had made for her adornment, leaving her poor and bare. Not only the removal of her garments by way of degradation and disgrace, but exposure in that position to insult and ignominy would ensue. In other words, the nation is threatened with deprivation of all the blessings previously lavished upon them - property, prosperity, population, and privileges; while dishonor of the deepest dye would aggravate the misery. The day of the nation's birth denotes the weakness and wretchedness of their infant state. To this corresponded their servile, suffering condition during their bondage and oppression in Egypt. Rashi thus explains it; Kimchi says, "The figure of birth is the time they are slaves in Egypt;" so also Theodoret, - the latter calls the day of her birth the sojourn in Egypt. The Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:4) expands the idea, occasionally employing, as Rosenmüller remarks, the very words of Hosea. And make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and clay her with thirst. This part of the verse is susceptible of two explanations. The faithless female, under which character the northern kingdom is personified, may be compared to a wilderness, that is, according to Cyril, fruitless, parched, and productive only of thorns, thirsty and waterless. This comparison of a woman to a desert is wanting in suitability, and seems in some degree awkward in itself, beside being out of harmony with the closing clause; for to "slay with thirst," however applicable to a person, cannot with any propriety be said of a place, whether desert or otherwise. No doubt the wilderness may stand for those dwelling in it. We prefer, therefore, the alternative rendering, "make her as in a wilderness, and set her as in a dry land." Rashi aptly explains the threat to mean, "Lest I pronounce against them such a sentence as of old in this desert (Numbers 14:35), 'In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.'" There is, moreover, a natural connection of ideas between a wilderness, a dry land, and thirst. The nation's birth, represented by or compared to their sojourn in Egypt, naturally suggests the idea of their wandering in the wilderness after their exodus from that country; a wilderness, again, suggests what is an ordinary feature of such a district, namely, a dry land; while a region thus without water is suggestive as well as provocative of thirst. The former explanation, however, is given by Kimehi: "I will make thee like the wilderness which is open to every one, and in which, moreover, one finds no means of subsistence, nor anything that man needs; so I'll withdraw my goodness from them, and they shall be surrendered as a prey to every one."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Otherwise,
פֶּן־ (pen-)
Conjunction
Strong's 6435: Removal, lest

I will strip
אַפְשִׁיטֶ֣נָּה (’ap̄·šî·ṭen·nāh)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 6584: To strip off, make a dash, raid

her naked
עֲרֻמָּ֔ה (‘ă·rum·māh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 6174: Nude, either partially, totally

and expose her
וְהִ֨צַּגְתִּ֔יהָ (wə·hiṣ·ṣaḡ·tî·hā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3322: To place permanently

like the day
כְּי֖וֹם (kə·yō·wm)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3117: A day

of her birth.
הִוָּֽלְדָ֑הּ (hiw·wā·lə·ḏāh)
Verb - Nifal - Infinitive construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3205: To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage

I will make her
וְשַׂמְתִּ֣יהָ (wə·śam·tî·hā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

like a desert
כַמִּדְבָּ֗ר (ḵam·miḏ·bār)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech

and turn her into
וְשַׁתִּ֙הָ֙ (wə·šat·ti·hā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 7896: To put, set

a parched
צִיָּ֔ה (ṣî·yāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 6723: Aridity, a desert

land,
כְּאֶ֣רֶץ (kə·’e·reṣ)
Preposition-k | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

and I will let her die
וַהֲמִתִּ֖יהָ (wa·hă·mit·tî·hā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4191: To die, to kill

of thirst.
בַּצָּמָֽא׃ (baṣ·ṣā·mā)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6772: Thirst


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OT Prophets: Hosea 2:3 Lest I strip her naked and make (Ho Hs Hos.)
Hosea 2:2
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