Hosea 2
1 “Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’
So call your brothers, My People, and your sisters, Compassion.
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.
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 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.
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 on her sons, for they are the sons of fornications.
And on her children I will have no pity, since they are children of adultery,
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 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 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.
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 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.’
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 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.
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 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 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 reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from 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 cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her feast dates.
I will end all her celebrations, her yearly feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, all her festivals.
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.
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 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.
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 “Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.
So I am going to court her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly 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.
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 will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’
At that time, declares the Lord, you will call me your husband, and will no more call me your master.
17 And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.
I will remove the name of the Baals from her mouth, their names never again uttered.
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.
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 me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.
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 wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.
I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will 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.
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 land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.
The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer 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 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.’
