Hosea 2

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

'Say ye to your brethren — Ammi, And to your sisters — Ruhamah.

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 ye with your mother — plead, (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband, ) And she turneth her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries 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.

Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as [in] the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

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

And her sons I do not pity, For sons of whoredoms [are] they,

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 gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and 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.

Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find.

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 hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For — better to me 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.

And she knew not that I had given to her, The corn, and the new wine, and the oil. Yea, silver I did multiply to her, And the gold they prepared 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 do I turn back, And I have taken My corn in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering 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 do I reveal her dishonour before the eyes of her lovers, And none doth 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 have caused to cease all her joy, Her festival, her new moon, and her sabbath, Even all her appointed times,

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 made desolate her vine and her fig-tree, Of which she said, A gift they [are] to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And consumed them hath a beast of the field.

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 have charged on her the days of the Baalim, To whom she maketh perfume, And putteth on her ring and her ornament, And goeth after her lovers, And Me forgat — an affirmation of Jehovah.

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

Therefore, lo, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken unto her heart,

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 given to her her vineyards from thence, And the valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she hath responded there as in the days of her youth, And as in the day 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 hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, Thou dost call Me — My husband, And dost not call Me any more — My lord.

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 have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name.

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 have made to them a covenant in that day, with the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently.

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 have betrothed thee to Me to the age, And betrothed thee to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

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

And betrothed thee to Me in faithfulness, And thou hast known Jehovah.

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 hath come to pass in that day, I answer — an affirmation of Jehovah, I answer the heavens, and they answer 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 doth answer the corn, And the new wine, and the oil, And they 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 have sowed her to Me in the land, And I have pitied Lo-Ruhamah, And I have said to Lo-Ammi, My people thou [art], and it saith, My God!'