(Lo-Ruchamah), and a second son, named "Not-My-Nation" (Lo-Ammi). The prophet explained these metaphorical names; thus, Jezreel meant two things--in the first place, that God would visit on the house of Jehu the blood that their forefather had shed in Jezreel; and further, Jezreel denoted that God would destroy the armies of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. The name of the daughter meant that God would no longer care for the house of Israel; and, lastly, the name of the second son denoted that the God of Israel had deserted the nation, and would no longer be its God. After this introduction and its interpretation, the prophet began his address: "Contend with your mother, contend, For she is not my wife, And I am not her husband; Let her put away her prostitution from her face, And her adulteries from her bosom." (HOSEA ii. 4-6.) Then the prophet depicts the entire extent of the faithlessness of the house of Israel,--that adulteress who pursues her lover (Baal), in the belief that her riches and her plenty had come from him, forgetting that God had endowed her with the corn and wine, the silver and gold which she was wasting on the idol Baal; God would therefore deprive her of everything, and not leave her even sufficient clothes to cover her body. In her need she would be overcome by repentance, and say, "I will return to my first love, for then it was better with me than now." The prophet then pictures the return of the faithless wife, who would remorsefully recognise the whole extent of her past wickedness, and, turning to her husband, would call him "My husband," for the name "lord" (Baal) would have become hateful to her. (Hosea ii.) Reconciled with his betrothed (the nation), the Lord would again show mercy to her, as in the days of the exodus from Egypt; from the desert he would again lead her to her land, and she would once more sing psalms of praise as in the time of her youth, and in the days when she went forth from Egypt. The renewed covenant between her God and her would shield her from the wild beasts, and bow and sword and war would be no more. Jezreel, the ominous name, would receive an auspicious meaning (_planted in the land_); the "Unloved" would be once more the "Beloved," and "Not-My-Nation" would again become "My-Nation" and would acknowledge his God.