Passage

Hosea 2.19

Book: Hosea · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"17. For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. 18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely."

"19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies."

"20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah. 21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;" (Hosea 2:17-21, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"17. For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely."

"19. I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion."

"20. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh. 21. It will happen in that day, I will respond,” says Yahweh, “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;" (Hosea 2:17-21, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"17. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. 18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely."

"19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies."

"20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. 21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;" (Hosea 2:17-21, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"17. And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name. 18. And I have made to them a covenant in that day, with the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently."

"19. And I have betrothed thee to Me to the age, And betrothed thee to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,"

"20. And betrothed thee to Me in faithfulness, And thou hast known Jehovah. 21. And it hath come to pass in that day, I answer, an affirmation of Jehovah, I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth." (Hosea 2:17-21, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH through Hosea (covenant-marriage allegory)
Audience: the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam II and successors
Location: northern kingdom of Israel
Time period: Hosea's ministry c. 750-715 BC

Theological reading

The verse stands at the climax of Hosea's marriage-allegory reversal: YHWH, the betrayed husband, will not merely take back unfaithful Israel but will re-betroth her, and the bridal qualities are stacked as a five-fold gift list, righteousness (tzedeq), justice (mishpat), lovingkindness (hesed), compassion (rachamim), and faithfulness (emunah, v. 20). The five together constitute the full covenantal character. The placement of rachamim in the chain is significant: tender womb-compassion is named as one of the bridal qualities by which YHWH binds Himself to His people, not a contingent benefit but a constitutive feature of the new covenant relation. The NT picks up the betrothal-imagery for Christ and the church (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:25-32; Rev 19:7-9; 21:2, 9), making this verse one of the OT roots of the marriage-of-the-Lamb eschatology.

Key words

H7356 - rachamim, rachamim (Strong's H7356). Here in the five-fold bridal-qualities chain as the divine womb-compassion that YHWH brings into the betrothal.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.