Hosea 2

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

Call ye your brothers, 'Ammi [[my people]]; and your sisters, Ruchamah [[That hath 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.

Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; but let her put away her prostitution 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 on the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and render her like a dry land, and let her die with thirst.

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

And upon her children will I not have mercy; for 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 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 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 close it up with a fence, 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 will make pursuit after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she will seek them, but shall not find them: then will she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for it was better with 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.

But she indeed did not acknowledge, that it was I that had given her the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied for her silver and gold, which they devoted for Ba'al.

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 turn back, and take away my corn in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will snatch away my wool and my flax, [given] 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.

And now will I lay open her disgrace before the eyes of her lovers, and no man 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 to cease all her mirth, her festival, her new-moon, and her sabbath, and all her appointed feasts.

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 reward which my lovers have given me: and I will change them into a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour 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 Be'alim, to which she used to burn incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and me she forgot, saith the Lord.

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

Therefore, behold, will I allure her, and lead her forth into the wilderness, and I will speak comfortingly unto 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 [again] her vineyards from there, and the valley of 'Achor [[sorrow]] as an entrance for hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as on the day of her coming 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 happen at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi [[my husband]], and shalt not call me any more Ba'ali [[my lord]].

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

For I will remove the names of the Be'alim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned 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 for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and bow, and sword, and war I will break away out of the land, and I will cause them to 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.

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever: yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving-kindness, and in mercy.

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 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 it shall come to pass on that day, that I will answer prayer, saith the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer 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 answer the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Yizre'el.

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 for me in the land; and I will have mercy upon “Her that had not obtained mercy” [[Lo-ruchamah]]; and I will say to those who were “Not my people” [[Lo-'ammi]], Thou art my people: and they shall say, Thou art my God.