Hosea 2

¹Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

²Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

³lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

⁴Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;

⁵for their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.

⁷And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

⁸For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

⁹Therefore 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.

¹⁰And now will I uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.

¹¹I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

¹²And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

¹³And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.

¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

¹⁵And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali.

¹⁷For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name.

¹⁸And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely.

¹⁹And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

²⁰I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah.

²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;

²²and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Jezreel.

²³And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

Hosea 2

¹“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

²Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

³Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

⁴I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.

⁵For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’

⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

⁷She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’

⁸For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold— which they crafted for Baal.

⁹Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.

¹¹I will put an end to all her exultation: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths— all her appointed feasts.

¹²I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.

¹³I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.

¹⁵There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

¹⁶In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’

¹⁷For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and weapons of war in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

¹⁹So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.

²⁰And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.”

²¹“On that day I will respond—” declares the LORD— “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth.

²²And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

²³And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”