Jeremiah 2:2

2:2 “Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you, ²  how devoted you were to me in your early years. ³  I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

Jeremiah 3:14

3:14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master. ⁴  If you do, ⁵  I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

Isaiah 54:5

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ⁶  the Holy One of Israel. ⁷ 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

Ezekiel 16:8

16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing ⁸  that you had reached the age for love. ⁹  I spread my cloak ¹⁰  over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

Ezekiel 23:4

23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah ¹¹  the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. ¹²  Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Hosea 2:2

Idolatrous Israel Will Be Punished Like a Prostitute

2:2 Plead earnestly ¹³  with your ¹⁴  mother

(for ¹⁵  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),

so that ¹⁶  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ¹⁷ 

and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ¹⁸ 

Hosea 3:1

An Illustration of God’s Love for Idolatrous Israel

3:1 The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to ¹⁹  your wife ²⁰  again, even though she loves ²¹  another man ²²  and continually commits adultery. ²³  Likewise, the Lord loves ²⁴  the Israelites ²⁵  although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” ²⁶ 

John 3:29

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ²⁷  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ²⁸ 

John 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ²⁹  at night ³⁰  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ³¹  that you do unless God is with him.”

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³²  brothers and sisters ³³  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁴  from God our Father! ³⁵ 

[2:2]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:2]  ² tn Heb “I remember to/for you.”

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “the loyal love of your youth.”

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Or “I am your true husband.”

[3:14]  ⁵ tn The words, “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.

[54:5]  ⁶ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:5]  ⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.

[16:8]  ⁹ tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.

[16:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).

[23:4]  ¹¹ tn The names Oholah and Oholibah are both derived from the word meaning “tent.” The meaning of Oholah is “her tent,” while Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”

[23:4]  ¹² sn In this allegory the Lord is depicted as being the husband of two wives. The OT law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Lev 18:18), but the practice is attested in the OT (cf. Jacob). The metaphor is utilized here for illustrative purposes and does not mean that the Lord condoned such a practice or bigamy in general.

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “Plead with your mother, plead!” The imperative רִיבוּ (rivu, “plead!”) is repeated twice in this line for emphasis. This rhetorical expression is handled in a woodenly literal sense by most English translations: NASB “Contend…contend”; NAB “Protest…protest!”; NIV “Rebuke…rebuke”; NRSV “Plead…plead”; CEV “Accuse! Accuse your mother!”

[2:2]  ¹⁴ sn The suffix on the noun אִמְּכֶם (’immékhem, “your mother”) is a plural form (2nd person masculine). The children of Gomer represent the “children” (i.e., people) of Israel; Gomer represents the nation as a whole.

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn The particle כִּי (ki) introduces a parenthetical explanatory clause (however, cf. NCV “because”).

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn The dependent volitive sequence of imperative followed by vav + jussive (רִיבוּ, rivu followed by וְתָסֵר, vétaser) creates a purpose clause: “so that she might turn away from” (= “put an end to”); cf. NRSV “that she put away”; KJV “let her therefore put away.” Many English translations begin a new sentence here, presumably to improve the English style (so NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT), but this obscures the connection with the preceding clause.

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “put away her adulteries from her face.” The plural noun זְנוּנֶיהָ (zénuneha, “adulteries”) is an example of the plural of repeated (or habitual) action: she has had multiple adulterous affairs.

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[put away] her immoral behavior from between her breasts.” Cf. KJV “her adulteries”; NIV “the unfaithfulness.”

[3:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Go again! Love!” Cf. NAB “Give your love to.”

[3:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a woman.” The probable referent is Gomer. Some English translations (e.g., NIV, NLT) specify the referent as “your wife.”

[3:1]  ²¹ tc The MT vocalizes אֲהֻבַת (’ahuvat) as a construct form of the Qal passive participle and takes רֵעַ (rea’) as a genitive of agent: “who is loved by רֵעַ.” However, the ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) all vocalize אֲהֻבַת as an absolute form of the Qal active participle, and take רֵעַ as the accusative direct object: “who loves רֵעַ.” The English translations consistently follow the MT. The editors of BHS suggest the revocalization but with some reservation. For discussion of the vocalization, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:230.

[3:1]  ²² tn The meaning of the noun רֵעַ (rea’) is debated because it has a broad range of meanings: (1) “friend,” (2) “lover,” (3) “companion,” (4) “neighbor,” and (5) “another” (HALOT 1253-55 s.v. II רֵעַ; BDB 945-46 s.v. II רֵעַ). The Hebrew lexicons favor the nuance “lover; paramour” here (HALOT 1255 s.v. 2; BDB 946 s.v. 1). Most scholars adopt the same approach; however, a few suggest that רֵעַ does not refer to another man, but to her husband (Hosea). Both approaches are reflected in English translations: NASB “a woman who is loved by her husband”; NIV “though she is loved by another”; NAB “a woman beloved of a paramour”; KJV “a woman beloved of her friend”; NJPS “a woman who, while befriended by a companion”; TEV “a woman who is committing adultery with a lover”; CEV “an unfaithful woman who has a lover.”

[3:1]  ²³ tn Heb “love a woman who is loved of a lover and is an adulteress.”

[3:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “like the love of the Lord.” The genitive after the construct functions as a subjective genitive.

[3:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB “people of Israel.”

[3:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they are lovers of cakes of raisins.” A number of English translations render this literally (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[3:29]  ²⁷ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

[3:29]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

[3:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ³¹ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[1:2]  ³² tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³³ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁴ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁵ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.