Hosea 2

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

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

2 Rebuke 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.

Plead with your mother, plead; 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;

3 Otherwise, 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.

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

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

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

5 For 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.’

For 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.

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

Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns; and I will fence [her] in with a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

7 She 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.’

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

8 For 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.

And she did not know that I had given her the corn and the new wine and the oil, and had multiplied to her the silver and gold, which they employed for Baal.

9 Therefore 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.

Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my new wine in its season, and will withdraw my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

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

And now will I discover her impiety in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.

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

And I will cause all her mirth to cease: her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths! and all her solemnities.

12 I 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.

And I will make desolate her vine and her fig-tree, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards which my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

13 I 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,”

And I will visit upon her the days of the Baals, wherein she burned incense to them, and decked herself with her rings and jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith Jehovah.

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

Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart.

15 There 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.

And 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.

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

And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah, [that] thou shalt call me, My husband, and shalt call me no more, Baali;

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

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

18 On 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.

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

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

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; and I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies;

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

and I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know Jehovah.

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

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

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

and the earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel.

23 And 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.’”

And I will sow her unto me in the land; and I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhamah; and I will say to Lo-ammi, Thou art my people; and they shall say, My God.