Hosea 2

1 “On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call your sisters Ruhamah.

Call ye your brothers, 'Ammi [[my people]]; and your sisters, Ruchamah [[That hath obtained mercy]].

2 Condemn your mother, condemn her because she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop looking like a prostitute—get rid of the makeup and the provocative clothing.

Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; but let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts:

3 Otherwise I will strip her naked as the day she was born, and make her like a desert, a barren land, and let her die of thirst.

Lest I strip her naked, and set her, as on the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and render her like a dry land, and let her die with thirst.

4 I will have no pity on her children because they are children of prostitution.

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

5 For their mother was a prostitute who conceived them in a shameful way. She said, ‘I'll run after my lovers who give me my food and water, my wool and flax and olive oil, and my drink.’

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, my oil and my drink.

6 That is why I am going to block her path with thorn bushes, and build a stone wall to stop her so she won't find her way.

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will close it up with a fence, that she shall not find her paths.

7 When she runs after her lovers she won't catch up with them; she'll look for them but she won't find them. Then she'll say, ‘Let me go back to my former husband, because it was better for me then than now.’

And she will make pursuit after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she will seek them, but shall not find them: then will she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for it was better with me then than now.

8 She doesn't consider that it was me who gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil; the silver and the gold which I gave her abundantly that they made into an idol of Baal.

But she indeed did not acknowledge, that it was I that had given her the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied for her silver and gold, which they devoted for Ba'al.

9 So I will take back my ripened grain and my new wine I gave at harvest time. I will take back my wool and my flax I provided to cover her nakedness.

Therefore will I turn back, and take away my corn in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will snatch away my wool and my flax, [given] to cover her nakedness.

10 I will strip her naked while her lovers watch; no one will be able to rescue her from me.

And now will I lay open her disgrace before the eyes of her lovers, and no man shall deliver her out of my hand.

11 I will put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.

And I will cause to cease all her mirth, her festival, her new-moon, and her sabbath, and all her appointed feasts.

12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees that she said were given to her as payment for being a prostitute. I will turn them into scrub-land; only wild animals will eat the remaining fruit.

And I will make desolate her vine and her fig-tree, whereof she hath said, These are my reward which my lovers have given me: and I will change them into a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.

13 I will punish her for all the times she offered incense to Baal, dressing herself up, putting on rings and jewelry, going after her lovers, but forgetting about me, declares the Lord.

And I will visit upon her the days of the Be'alim, to which she used to burn incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and me she forgot, saith the Lord.

14 See what I'm going to do! I will win her back, taking her into the desert where I will speak to her heart-to-heart.

Therefore, behold, will I allure her, and lead her forth into the wilderness, and I will speak comfortingly unto her heart.

15 There I will return her vineyards to her and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond to me as she did when she was young, as in the time when she left the land of Egypt.

And I will give her [again] her vineyards from there, and the valley of 'Achor [[sorrow]] as an entrance for hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as on the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

16 Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’

And it shall happen at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi [[my husband]], and shalt not call me any more Ba'ali [[my lord]].

17 I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.

For I will remove the names of the Be'alim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name.

18 At that time I will make a solemn agreement with the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. I will do away with the bow and the sword; I will abolish war from the land so you can lie down in safety.

And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and bow, and sword, and war I will break away out of the land, and I will cause them to lie down in safety.

19 I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy.

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever: yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving-kindness, and in mercy.

20 I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as the Lord.

And I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord.

21 On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth.

And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will answer prayer, saith the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;

22 The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows).

And the earth shall answer the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Yizre'el.

23 I will ‘sow’ her for myself in the earth. I will love Lo-ruhamah (unloved) and I will say ‘you are my people’ to Lo-ammi (not my people), and they will say ‘You are my God.’”

And I will sow her for me in the land; and I will have mercy upon “Her that had not obtained mercy” [[Lo-ruchamah]]; and I will say to those who were “Not my people” [[Lo-'ammi]], Thou art my people: and they shall say, Thou art my God.