Hosea 2

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

Call ye your brethren My-people; and your sisters Pitied.

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 ye with your mother, contend! For she is not my wife, Nor am I her husband; That she put away lewdness from her face, And adultery from her breasts, Lest I strip her naked, And expose her, as when she was born;

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 make her as the desert, and like a parched land, And kill her with thirst.

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

Upon her sons also I will not have pity, For they are the sons of lewdness.

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 been guilty of lewdness; She that bore them hath brought upon herself shame; For she said, I will go after my lovers, Who give me my food and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my strong 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 her way with thorns, And I will enclose her with a wall, So 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.’

When she followeth after her lovers, she shall not overtake them; When she seeketh them, she shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will go back to my former husband, For then it was better with me 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.

For she did not consider that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, And multiplied silver unto her, And gold, of which they made images of Baal.

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 take back my corn in its time, And my new wine in its season, And I will take away my wool and my flax, Which covered 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 reveal her shame before the eyes of her lovers, And none 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 all her joy to cease; Her feasts, and new moons, and sabbaths, And all her festal days.

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.

I will destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, Of which she said, These are my hire, Which my lovers have given me; And I will make them a forest, And the wild beasts shall eat 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.

I will punish her for the days of the Baals, When she burned incense to them, And decked herself with her rings and her jewels, And went after her lovers, And forgot me, saith Jehovah.

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, I will allure her, And will lead her to the desert, And will speak kindly to her;

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 thence will I give her her vineyards, And the valley of Achor for a door of hope; And there shall she sing, as in the days of her youth! As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

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

At that time, saith Jehovah, Thou shalt call me, MY HUSBAND; Thou shalt no more call me, MY BAAL;

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

For I will take away the name of the Baals out of her mouth, And their name shall no more be uttered.

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.

At that time will I make for them a covenant With the beasts of the forest, and with the birds of heaven, And with the creeping things of the ground. The bow and the sword and the battle will I break from 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.

I will betroth thee to me forever; Yea, I will betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in justice, And in kindness, and in tender love.

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

Yea, I will betroth thee to me in faithfulness, And thou shalt know Jehovah.

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

At that time will I hear, saith Jehovah; I will hear the heavens; And they shall hear 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 hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil, And they shall hear Jezreel.

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 plant her for myself in the land; And I will have pity upon her that was called Unpitied; And I will say to them called Not-my-people, Thou art my people; And they shall say, Thou art my God.