Baali Baalim
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(my lord) (Hos. 2:16). In one of the prophecies relating to the Jewish church, it is said: “And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband); and shalt call me no more Baali (that is, my lord)” (Hos. 2:14 [as given], 23 [as given]). The word “husband” served, of course, to express a more heartfelt relation than “my lord,” although the latter, too, was a lawful form of address on the wife’s part to her husband. But this latter word is undoubtedly used here in an exclusive sense, on account of the gross idolatry connected with the name Baali.