Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 2:9

"Therefore will I take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness." — Hosea 2:9 (ASV)

Therefore will I return, and take ...—The Hebrew form of saying, “Therefore I will take back.” Jehovah resumes all that had been misappropriated. The king of Assyria (Tiglath-pileser, 734 B.C.) was the agency through which this was to be accomplished. (Compare to Isaiah 10:5.) The clothing (wool and flax) was Jehovah’s gift to cover her nakedness, that is, to meet the actual necessities of Israel. This He will tear away, and the idol-gods whom she has courted shall see her prostration, and their own helplessness to deliver or relieve.