Hosea 2

1 So call your brothers, My People, and your sisters, Compassion.

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

2 Accuse, accuse your mother: for she is not my wife, and I will not be her husband. Let her put her acts of infidelity out of her sight, and her lovers from between her breasts,

Contend with your mother, contend: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her harlotry out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

3 else I will strip her bare, expose her as she was on the day of her birth, make her like the wilderness, let her become like a parched land, and 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 like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

4 And on her children I will have no pity, since they are children of adultery,

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

5 for their mother has become a prostitute, she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. She has said, ‘I will go after my lovers who gave me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my oil, and my 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, my oil and my drink.

6 That is why I am going to hedge up her ways with thorns, and build a wall about her, so that she cannot find her paths.

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

7 She will pursue her lovers, but will not overtake them. She will seek them, but not find them. In time she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, I was better off then than now.’

And 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.

8 She herself did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the sweet wine, and the oil, who lavished on her silver and gold – that they used in worshipping Baal!

For she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

9 So I will take back my grain at the harvest, and my sweet wine in its season. I will withdraw my wool and my flax, given to cover her nakedness;

Therefore will I return, and take away my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

10 and so I will strip her naked before her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my hand.

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

11 I will end all her celebrations, her yearly feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, all her festivals.

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

12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she says, ‘These are my wages which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them.

And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which 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.

13 In this way I will punish her for the days of the Baals, in which she made offerings to them, and decked herself with earrings and jewels, and went after her lovers, but forgot me, – declares the Lord.

And I will judge her for the days of Baalim, in which she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the LORD.

14 So I am going to court her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

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

15 I will give her from there her vineyards, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt.

And I will give her her vineyards there, 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 from the land of Egypt.

16 At that time, declares the Lord, you will call me your husband, and will no more call me your master.

And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

17 I will remove the name of the Baals from her mouth, their names never again uttered.

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

18 On that day I will make for them a covenant with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. I will break the bow and the sword, banish battle from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety.

And 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 in safety.

19 I will take you for my wife forever, I will take you for my wife in righteousness, in justice, in kindness, and in mercy.

And I will betroth thee to me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord.

I will even betroth thee to me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

21 On that day I will answer – declares the Lord, I will answer the empty skies, and they will answer the dry earth.

And 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;

22 The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer Jezreel,

And the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

23 and I will plant her in the land. I will have compassion to No-Compassion, I will say to Not-My-People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’

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