Plead with your mother, plead: Yahweh speaks to the people of Israel as if Hosea were speaking to his three children. The Hebrew pronoun for your is plural. Good News Translation has made the addressees explicit by beginning with “My children.” The suggested context here is that of a court case in which the mother is on trial. The children represent the people of Israel. The mother represents the nation of Israel in this allegory. However, we do not recommend making this explicit in the translation. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and Bijbel in Gewone Taal make it explicit that Yahweh is speaking by beginning this verse with “The Lord says.” In 2.1-13 the wife is spoken to directly only in 2.6 in the Hebrew.

Plead translates a Hebrew word usually associated with a legal trial. In the present context this verb denotes a confrontation in the setting of a court case, so it is better rendered “Accuse” (Contemporary English Version) or “Make complaint against.” The father is asking his children to confront their mother by taking legal action against her in court. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible renders this line as “Take legal action against your mother, take legal action against her,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “To court, take your mother to court!” The repetition of the imperative Hebrew verb here makes the appeal to the children to accuse their mother more compelling. It is not stated whether the children are to do so together with their father or independently. Most commentators assume that they are to join their father’s action. However, this is not likely if the parents are divorced (see the comments below).

For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband: These two lines are usually interpreted as a statement of divorce. It is placed within the larger sentence as a parenthetical statement. So it seems to be a statement of what has already occurred, not a statement that the divorce is taking place at this moment. Moreover, the issue of divorce is not the main topic of the allegory. The statement symbolizes that the covenant between God and Israel has been broken by Israel’s unfaithfulness. If they are no longer husband and wife, this may be the reason Hosea (representing Yahweh) asks the children, the people of Israel, to bring the formal accusation against their mother, the morally decayed nation of Israel. The former husband would no longer do so, for he is no longer legally related to the woman. Instead, Hosea now represents the one who executes punishment in 2.3. Some scholars believe a divorce has not occurred, since Gomer would then not be permitted to return to her husband (see 2.7). Thus Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) translates these lines as “For she acts as if she were not my wife and I were not her husband.” The Hebrew text does not support this rendering, so it is not recommended. Hosea and Gomer were definitely separated and most likely divorced, according to this formal statement of divorce. It must be remembered that, just as Hosea and Gomer were divorced, so also God eventually rejected Israel. They were taken into captivity in Assyria, and they never returned. The “divorce” was final, in that case.

Instead of the conjunction for, Good News Translation uses the connector “though” to render the Hebrew particle ki. For expresses a causal relationship, while “though” indicates a contra-expectation. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word can be translated both ways, but in view of the explanation in the preceding paragraph, we recommend a causal connector, such as for or “because.”

The Hebrew text uses independent pronouns for she and I to sharpen the contrast between the husband and the wife. The Hebrew phrases for not my wife and not her husband clearly resemble the combination of negatives in 1.9. They are grammatically identical. We suggest choosing a translation that visualizes this resemblance.

That she put away her harlotry from her face and her adultery from between her breasts: Even though they are divorced, the husband continues to try to change what his wife is doing, and this is the reason for the courtroom scene. The purpose for confronting her is expressed in these two lines, which are parallel lines of poetry. The Hebrew verb form rendered that she put away may be translated “And let her put away” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), which introduces an independent clause. Revised Standard Version understands it as introducing a purpose clause, which is also possible. The main problem with this solution is the fact that the purpose clause should be linked with the first line in this verse. Because of the parenthetical statement in between, it may be difficult to see the connection. A slight rearrangement of clauses can resolve this problem (see the second translation model below). Since these two lines are parallel in Hebrew, the verb put away is implied in the second line (a case of ellipsis). If ellipsis is a poetic device in the receptor language, it should be kept here.

Her harlotry from her face possibly refers to cosmetics, decorations, or jewelry that would advertise her as a prostitute. Her adultery from between her breasts is a way of referring to the physical position of the men with whom she commits adultery; she should stop accepting them. Some translations interpret this expression to refer to the same kinds of jewelry or signs as those on her forehead, assuming that it adds no further information as a parallel expression. Thus Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) renders these two lines as “She should remove from her face and from her breast the decoration, which is a reminder that she has broken her faithfulness with me.” Either interpretation is valid. The Hebrew poet may have implied both of them.

Good News Translation avoids the details of these two lines, in which the figures of speech may be unclear, and gives the basic meaning: “Plead with her to stop her adultery and prostitution.” What is gained in clarity is lost in poetic and stylistic artistry. We advise translators to weigh such issues in deciding the various translation options.

Translation models for this verse are:

• To court! Take your mother to court!
For she is not my wife,
I am not her husband.
Let her remove the symbols of prostitution from her face,
the signs of adultery from between her breasts.

• Accuse your mother!
She is not my wife
and I am not her husband.
Accuse her,
so that she removes her whorish looks
and her harlotry between her breasts.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .