Hosea 2

¹Say ye to your brethren: You are my people: and to your sister: Thou hast obtained mercy.

²Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her fornications 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 I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land that none can pass through and will kill her with drought.

⁴And I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of fornications.

⁵For their mother hath committed fornication, she that conceived them is covered with shame: for she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink.

⁶Wherefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.

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

⁸And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver, and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal.

⁹Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its season, and I will set at liberty my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace.

¹⁰And now I will lay open her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand:

¹¹And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times.

¹²And I will destroy her vines, and her fig trees, of which she said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me: and I will make her as a forest and the beasts of the field shall devour her.

¹³And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, to whom she burnt incense, and decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord.

¹⁴Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart.

¹⁵And I will give her vinedressers out of the same place, and the valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there according to the days of her youth, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord: That she shall call me: My husband, and she shall call me no more Baali.

¹⁷And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name.

¹⁸And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure.

¹⁹And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations.

²⁰And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

²¹And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.

²²And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel.

²³And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy.

²⁴And I will say to that which is not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God.

Hosea 2

¹Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru–hamah.

²Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, 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.

⁴And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.

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 make a wall, 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 corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

⁹Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

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

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

¹²And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards 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 Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.

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 sing 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 the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

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

¹⁸And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, 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 judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

²⁰I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.

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

²²And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear 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 which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.