Osee 2

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

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

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:

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 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.

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 not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.

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

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 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 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 hedge up her ways with thorns, and build a wall about her, so that she cannot 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.

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 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 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 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 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 expose her uncleanness before her lovers, and no one shall by any means deliver 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 take away all her gladness, her feasts, and her festivals at the new moon, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

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 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 take you for my wife forever, I will take you for my wife in righteousness, in justice, in kindness, and in mercy.

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

I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will know 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 I will answer – declares the Lord, I will answer the empty skies, and they will answer the dry 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 with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer 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, You are my people; and they shall say, You are the Lord 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.’