Hosea 2

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

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

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.

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:

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.

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.

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

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

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.’

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.

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.

Therefore, behold, I hedge up her way with thorns, and I will stop the ways, and she shall not find her path.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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 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.

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 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;

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

and I will betroth you to myself in faithfulness: and you shall know 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 shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I will listen to the heaven, and it shall listen 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 shall listen to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall listen to Jezrael.

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 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.