Hosea 1:10

The Restoration of Israel

1:10 (2:1) ¹  However, ²  in the future the number of the people ³  of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although ⁴  it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are ⁵  children ⁶  of the living God!”

Zechariah 2:11

2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, ⁷  and they will also be my ⁸  people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you.

Zechariah 13:9

13:9 Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;

I will refine them like silver is refined

and will test them like gold is tested.

They will call on my name and I will answer;

I will say, ‘These are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” ⁹ 

Romans 9:25-26

9:25 As he also says in Hosea:

“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ¹⁰  ‘My beloved.’” ¹¹ 

9:26 “And in the very place ¹²  where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” ¹³ 

¹ sn Beginning with 1:10, the verse numbers through 2:23 in the English Bible differ by two from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:10 ET = 2:1 HT, 1:11 ET = 2:2 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:3 HT, etc., through 2:23 ET = 2:25 HT. Beginning with 3:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

² tn The vav prefixed to וְהָיָה (véhaya) functions in an adversative sense: “however” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §432).

³ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV “the children”; NAB, NIV “the Israelites.”

⁴ tn Heb “in the place” (בִּמְקוֹם, bimqom). BDB 880 s.v. מָקוֹם 7.b suggests that בִּמְקוֹם (preposition בְּ, bet, + noun מָקוֹם, maqom) is an idiom carrying a concessive sense: “instead of” (e.g., Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1). However, HALOT suggests that it functions in a locative sense: “in the same place” (HALOT 626 s.v. מָקוֹם 2b; e.g., 1 Kgs 21:19; Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1).

⁵ tn The predicate nominative, “You are…,” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “sons” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).

⁷ tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tc The LXX and Syriac have the 3rd person masculine singular suffix in both places (“his people” and “he will settle”; cf. NAB, TEV) in order to avoid the Lord’s speaking of himself in the third person. Such resort is unnecessary, however, in light of the common shifting of person in Hebrew narrative (cf. 3:2).

⁹ sn The expression I will say ‘It is my people,’ and they will say ‘the Lord is my God’ is reminiscent of the restoration of Israel predicted by Hosea, who said that those who had been rejected as God’s people would be reclaimed and once more become his sons and daughters (Hos 2:23).

¹⁰ tn Grk “and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’”

¹¹ sn A quotation from Hos 2:23.

¹² tn Grk “And it will be in the very place.”

¹³ sn A quotation from Hos 1:10.