Hosea 2

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

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

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.

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 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.

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 compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.

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

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 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 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot 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 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 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 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 gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into 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.

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 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, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from 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 joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her feast dates.

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

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

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

And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember 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 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 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 you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.

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

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

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

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

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 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.’”