Hosea 2
1 Say to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied.
2 Take up the cause against your mother, take it up, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; let her put away her loose ways from her face, and her false ways from between her breasts;
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband: and I will remove her fornication out of my presence, and her adultery from between her breasts:
3 For fear that I may take away her robe from her, making her uncovered as in the day of her birth; making her like a waste place and a dry land, causing her death through need of water.
that I may strip her naked, and make her again as she was at the day of her birth: and I will make her desolate, and make her as a dry land, and will kill her with thirst.
4 And I will have no mercy on her children, for they are the children of her loose ways.
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.
5 For their mother has been untrue; she who gave them birth has done things of shame, for she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my wine.
And their mother went a-whoring: she that bore them disgraced [them]: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, and my garments, and my linen clothes, my oil and my necessaries.
6 For this cause I will put thorns in her road, building up a wall round her so that she may not go on her way.
Therefore, behold, I hedge up her way with thorns, and I will stop the ways, and she shall not find her path.
7 And if she goes after her lovers she will not overtake them; if she makes search for them she will not see them; then will she say, I will go back to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.
And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: and she shall say, I will go, and return to my former husband; for it was better with me than now.
8 For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold which they gave to the Baal.
And she knew not that I gave her her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied silver to her: but she made silver and gold [images] for Baal.
9 So I will take away again my grain in its time and my wine, and I will take away my wool and my linen with which her body might have been covered.
Therefore I will return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its time; and I will take away my raiment and my linen clothes, so that she shall not cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will make her shame clear before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will take her out of my hand.
And now I will expose her uncleanness before her lovers, and no one shall by any means deliver her out of my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her joy, her feasts, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her regular meetings.
And I will take away all her gladness, her feasts, and her festivals at the new moon, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
12 And I will make waste her vines and her fig-trees, of which she has said, These are the payments which my lovers have made to me; and I will make them a waste of trees, and the beasts of the field will take them for food.
And I will utterly destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, all things of which she said, These are my hire which my lovers have given me: and I will make them a testimony, and the wild beasts of the field, and the birds of the sky, and the reptiles of the earth shall devour them.
13 And I will give her punishment for the days of the Baals, to whom she has been burning perfumes, when she made herself fair with her nose-rings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, giving no thought to me, says the Lord.
And I will recompense on her the days of Baalim, wherein she sacrificed to them, and put on her ear-rings, and her necklaces, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord.
14 For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and will say words of comfort to her.
Therefore, behold, I [will] cause her to err, and will make her as desolate, and will speak comfortably to her.
15 And I will give her vine-gardens from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will give her answer there as in the days when she was young, and as in the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
And I will giver her possessions from thence, and the valley of Achor to open her understanding: and she shall be afflicted there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.
16 And in that day, says the Lord, you will say to me, Ishi; and you will never again give me the name of Baali;
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, [that] she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim.
17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and never again will she say their names.
And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all.
18 And in that day I will make an agreement for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven and the things which go low on the earth; I will put an end to the bow and the sword and war in all the land, and will make them take their rest in peace.
And I will make for them in that day a covenant with the wild beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the reptiles of the earth: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle from off the earth, and will cause thee to dwell safely.
19 And I will take you as my bride for ever; truly, I will take you as my bride in righteousness and in right judging, in love and in mercies.
And I will betroth thee to myself for ever; yea, I will betroth thee to myself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in tender compassions;
20 I will take you as my bride in good faith, and you will have knowledge of the Lord.
and I will betroth thee to myself in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
21 And it will be, in that day, says the Lord, that I will give an answer to the heavens, and the heavens to the earth;
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, I will hearken to the heaven, and it shall hearken to the earth;
22 And the earth will give its answer to the grain and the wine and the oil, and they will give an answer to Jezreel;
and the earth shall hearken to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hearken to Jezrael.
23 And I will put her as seed in the earth, and I will have mercy on her to whom no mercy was given; and I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people, and they will say, My God.
And I will sow her to me on the earth; and will love her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art the Lord my God.
