Hosea 2:18

Make a covenant] Jehovah is here represented poetically as making an agreement with, or laying a command upon, noxious animals, that they will not, it may be supposed, hurt either man or the fruits of his labours: cp. Isaiah 11:9. Break the bow, etc.] destroy the weapons of warfare no longer needed in a land of security: cp. Isaiah 9:5 (RV).

19, 20. The idols had hired Israel's love with gifts of worldly prosperity, and even these they could not really give (Hosea 2:12). Jehovah would woo Israel in the first place with much higher gifts, righteousness, judgment, etc.

21, 22. I will hear, etc.] The natural order of thought is reversed, because Jehovah (through the prophet) is speaking of His work. The whole thought is highly poetical. Jezreel ('God-soweth,' used for Israel, for the sake of the play on the word) cries for the com and wine and oil. These cry to the earth to produce them. The earth in its turn cries to the heaven for rain, and the rain cries to Jehovah to send it. Jehovah hears the cry, and so the heart's desire of the people is granted, even without their expressly asking Jehovah for it.