Hosea 2:1. brethren and sisters: read with LXX, brother and sister.
The whole passage is clearly out of place, and may be a later insertion. Still the language is not inharmonious with Hosea's diction, especially if go up from the land can mean gain the mastery over the land. Further, the conception of north-Israelites and Judæ ans marching together under one head suggests a date prior to the downfall of the Northern Kingdom (722 B.C.). Many scholars think that the section should follow Hosea 2:23. A better suggestion is that Hosea 3 was originally intended to follow immediately on Hosea 1:2-9. Then the promise of restoration, ethically conditioned, would follow on Hosea 3:4 f.