Hosea 2

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

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

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.

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,

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.

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.

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

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

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 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.’

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 hedge up her ways with thorns, and build a wall about her, so that she cannot 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.’

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.’

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 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!

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 grain at the harvest, and my sweet wine in its season. I will withdraw 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 so I will strip her naked before her lovers, and no one 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.

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

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,”

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will 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.

On that day I will answer – declares the Lord, I will answer the empty skies, and they will answer the dry 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 with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer 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 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.’