< Osee 2 >

1 Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied.
Say you to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
2 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:
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 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.
Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.
And I will not have mercy on her children; for they be the children of prostitutions.
5 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.
For their mother has played the harlot: she that conceived them has 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 hedge up her way with thorns, and I will stop the ways, and she shall not find her path.
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 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.
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
8 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.
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
9 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.
Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will expose her uncleanness before her lovers, and no one shall by any means deliver her out of my hand.
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.
11 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.
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12 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.
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she has said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 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.
And I will visit on her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD.
14 Therefore, behold, I [will] cause her to err, and will make her as desolate, and will speak comfortably to her.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.
15 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.
And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16 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.
And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, that you shall call me Ishi; and shall call me no more Baali.
17 And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all.
For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18 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.
And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
19 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;
And I will betroth you to me for ever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.
20 and I will betroth thee to myself in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness: and you shall know the LORD.
21 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;
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, says the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
22 and the earth shall hearken to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hearken to Jezrael.
And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 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.
And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are my God.

< Osee 2 >