Hosea 2

1 Say unto your brethren Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

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

2 Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: and let her put away her whoredoms from 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 lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her as a dry land, and slay 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 upon her children; for they are the children of whoredoms.

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

5 For their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine 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 Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns; and I will fence [her] in with a wall, that she shall 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 shall pursue after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, and shall not find them: and she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than 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 had given her the corn and the new wine and the oil, and had multiplied to her the silver and gold, which they employed for 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 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my new wine in its season, and will withdraw my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

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 will I discover her impiety in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of 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 mirth to cease: her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths! and all her solemnities.

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 make desolate her vine and her fig-tree, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards which my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

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 visit upon her the days of the Baals, wherein she burned incense to them, and decked herself with her rings and jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith Jehovah.

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 Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and 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 her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of 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 shall be in that day, saith Jehovah, [that] thou shalt call me, My husband, and shalt call me no more, Baali;

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 for I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by 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 I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will break bow and sword and battle out of the land; and I will make them to lie down safely.

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 thee unto me for ever; and I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies;

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 betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know Jehovah.

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

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall 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 earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel.

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 sow her unto me in the land; and I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhamah; and I will say to Lo-ammi, Thou art my people; and they shall say, 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.