Hosea 2

1 Say to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

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

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;

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 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.

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 And I will have no mercy on her children, for they are the children of her loose ways.

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

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 now I will make her shame clear before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will take her out of my hand.

and so I will strip her naked before her lovers, and no one shall 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.

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

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.

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 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.

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 For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and will say words of comfort to her.

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

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 And in that day, says the Lord, you will say to me, Ishi; and you will never again give me the name of Baali;

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

17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and never again will she say their names.

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

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.

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 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.

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 I will take you as my bride in good faith, and you will have knowledge of the Lord.

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

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 give its answer to the grain and the wine and the oil, and they will give an answer to Jezreel;

The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer Jezreel,

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 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.”