Hosea 2

1 “Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’

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

2 Judge your mother, judge: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her fornications from before her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.

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;

3 Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.

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.

4 And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of fornications.

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

5 For their mother has been fornicating; she who conceived them has been brought to ruin. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

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.

6 Because of this, behold, I will fence in your way with thorns, and I will surround it with a wall, and she will not find her paths.

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.

7 And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not obtain them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was to some extent better for me then, than it is now.’

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.

8 And she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into Baal.

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.

9 For this reason, I will turn back, and I will take away my grain in its time and my wine in its time, and I will set free my wool and my flax, which had covered her disgrace.

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.

10 And now, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my hand.

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

11 And I will cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her feast dates.

And I will put an end to all her joy, her feasts, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her regular meetings.

12 And I will corrupt her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These rewards, they are mine, my lovers have given them to me.’ And I will place her in a narrow forest, and the beasts of the field will devour her.

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.

13 And I will inflict on her the days of the Baals, for whom she burned incense, and ornamented herself with earrings and necklace, and went after her lovers, and forgot about me,” says the Lord.

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.

14 “Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.

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

15 And I will give to her, from the same place, her vinedressers, and the valley of Achor as a passage of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days of her ascension from the land of Egypt.

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.

16 And it will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’

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

17 And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.

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

18 And in that day, I will strike a deal with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creatures of the earth. And I will crush the bow and the sword, and I will wipe away war from the earth. And I will let them sleep securely.

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.

19 And I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.

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.

20 And I will wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.

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

21 And this will happen in that day: I will listen closely,” says the Lord. “I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth.

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;

22 And the land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.

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

23 And I will plant her for me in the land, and I will have mercy on her, though she had been called Without Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

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.