Ishi

Ishi (my husband) is a symbolic name in Hosea 2:16, part of God's oracle of restoration to unfaithful Israel: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali." The verse draws on the double meaning of Hebrew terms for husband: ishi (my man/husband, intimate and personal) versus baali (my master/lord, also the name of the Canaanite deity Baal). In the restored relationship God promises, Israel will address him with the intimacy of a wife toward a loving husband rather than the servile address of a subject to a master — or worse, with the name of a pagan god.

The theological force of the verse lies in the marriage metaphor that runs throughout Hosea: Israel's pursuit of Baal worship is an act of marital unfaithfulness, and the divine promise is restoration of a right covenantal marriage. By eliminating Baali from Israel's vocabulary — "For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth" (Hosea 2:17) — God both breaks the idolatrous association and transforms the covenantal address into one of intimacy. The passage is foundational to the New Testament's use of the betrothal and marriage metaphor for the relationship between Christ and the church.