Hosea 2

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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 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.’

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

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.

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.’

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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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,”

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.’”

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.’”