Hosea 2

1 “On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call your sisters Ruhamah.

“Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’

2 Condemn your mother, condemn her because she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop looking like a prostitute—get rid of the makeup and the provocative clothing.

Judge your mother, judge: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her fornications from before her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.

3 Otherwise I will strip her naked as the day she was born, and make her like a desert, a barren land, and let her die of thirst.

Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.

4 I will have no pity on her children because they are children of prostitution.

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

5 For their mother was a prostitute who conceived them in a shameful way. She said, ‘I'll run after my lovers who give me my food and water, my wool and flax and olive oil, and my drink.’

For their mother has been fornicating; she who conceived them has been brought to ruin. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

6 That is why I am going to block her path with thorn bushes, and build a stone wall to stop her so she won't find her way.

Because of this, behold, I will fence in your way with thorns, and I will surround it with a wall, and she will not find her paths.

7 When she runs after her lovers she won't catch up with them; she'll look for them but she won't find them. Then she'll say, ‘Let me go back to my former husband, because it was better for me then than now.’

And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not obtain them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was to some extent better for me then, than it is now.’

8 She doesn't consider that it was me who gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil; the silver and the gold which I gave her abundantly that they made into an idol of Baal.

And she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into Baal.

9 So I will take back my ripened grain and my new wine I gave at harvest time. I will take back my wool and my flax I provided to cover her nakedness.

For this reason, I will turn back, and I will take away my grain in its time and my wine in its time, and I will set free my wool and my flax, which had covered her disgrace.

10 I will strip her naked while her lovers watch; no one will be able to rescue her from me.

And now, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my hand.

11 I will put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.

And I will cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her feast dates.

12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees that she said were given to her as payment for being a prostitute. I will turn them into scrub-land; only wild animals will eat the remaining fruit.

And I will corrupt her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These rewards, they are mine, my lovers have given them to me.’ And I will place her in a narrow forest, and the beasts of the field will devour her.

13 I will punish her for all the times she offered incense to Baal, dressing herself up, putting on rings and jewelry, going after her lovers, but forgetting about me, declares the Lord.

And I will inflict on her the days of the Baals, for whom she burned incense, and ornamented herself with earrings and necklace, and went after her lovers, and forgot about me,” says the Lord.

14 See what I'm going to do! I will win her back, taking her into the desert where I will speak to her heart-to-heart.

“Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.

15 There I will return her vineyards to her and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond to me as she did when she was young, as in the time when she left the land of Egypt.

And I will give to her, from the same place, her vinedressers, and the valley of Achor as a passage of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days of her ascension from the land of Egypt.

16 Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’

And it will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’

17 I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.

And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.

18 At that time I will make a solemn agreement with the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. I will do away with the bow and the sword; I will abolish war from the land so you can lie down in safety.

And in that day, I will strike a deal with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creatures of the earth. And I will crush the bow and the sword, and I will wipe away war from the earth. And I will let them sleep securely.

19 I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy.

And I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.

20 I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as the Lord.

And I will wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.

21 On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth.

And this will happen in that day: I will listen closely,” says the Lord. “I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth.

22 The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows).

And the land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.

23 I will ‘sow’ her for myself in the earth. I will love Lo-ruhamah (unloved) and I will say ‘you are my people’ to Lo-ammi (not my people), and they will say ‘You are my God.’”

And I will plant her for me in the land, and I will have mercy on her, though she had been called Without Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”