Osee 2

1 Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied.

“On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call 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:

Condemn your mother, condemn her because she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop looking like a prostitute—get rid of the makeup and the provocative clothing.

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.

Otherwise I will strip her naked as the day she was born, and make her like a desert, a barren land, and let her die of thirst.

4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.

I will have no pity on her children because they are children of prostitution.

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 was a prostitute who conceived them in a shameful way. She said, ‘I'll run after my lovers who give me my food and water, my wool and flax and olive 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.

That is why I am going to block her path with thorn bushes, and build a stone wall to stop her so she won't find her way.

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.

When she runs after her lovers she won't catch up with them; she'll look for them but she won't find them. Then she'll say, ‘Let me go back to my former husband, because it was better for me then 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.

She doesn't consider that it was me who gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil; the silver and the gold which I gave her abundantly that they made into an idol of 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.

So I will take back my ripened grain and my new wine I gave at harvest time. I will take back my wool and my flax I provided 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.

I will strip her naked while her lovers watch; no one will be able to rescue her from me.

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 put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.

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.

I will destroy her vines and fig trees that she said were given to her as payment for being a prostitute. I will turn them into scrub-land; only wild animals will eat the remaining fruit.

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, says the Lord.

I will punish her for all the times she offered incense to Baal, dressing herself up, putting on rings and jewelry, going after her lovers, but forgetting about me, declares the Lord.

14 Therefore, behold, I [will] cause her to err, and will make her as desolate, and will speak comfortably to her.

See what I'm going to do! I will win her back, taking her into the desert where I will speak to her heart-to-heart.

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.

There I will return her vineyards to her and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond to me as she did when she was young, as in the time when she left the land of Egypt.

16 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, [that] she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim.

Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’

17 And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all.

I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.

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 you to dwell safely.

At that time I will make a solemn agreement with the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. I will do away with the bow and the sword; I will abolish war from the land so you can lie down in safety.

19 And I will betroth you to myself for ever; yes, I will betroth you to myself in righteousness, and in judgement, and in mercy, and in tender compassions;

I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy.

20 and I will betroth you to myself in faithfulness: and you shall know the Lord.

I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as the Lord.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I will listen to the heaven, and it shall listen to the earth;

On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth.

22 and the earth shall listen to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall listen to Jezrael.

The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows).

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, You are my people; and they shall say, You are the Lord my God.

I will ‘sow’ her for myself in the earth. I will love Lo-ruhamah (unloved) and I will say ‘you are my people’ to Lo-ammi (not my people), and they will say ‘You are my God.’”