Hosea 2

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

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

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;

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 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.

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 the children of whoredoms.

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

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 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 will hedge up thy way with thorns; and I will fence [her] in with a wall, that she shall 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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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 allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and 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 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.

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 be in that day, saith Jehovah, [that] thou shalt call me, My husband, and shalt call me no more, Baali;

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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, I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall 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 earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel.

The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer 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 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.’