Hosea 2

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

Say to your brothers, 'My people!' and to your sisters, 'You have been shown compassion.'”

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.

Bring a lawsuit against your mother, bring a lawsuit, for she is not my wife, and neither am I her husband. Let her put away her prostitution from before herself, and her acts of adultery 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.

If not, I will strip her naked and show her nakedness as on the day that she was born. I will make her like the wilderness, like a parched land, and I will make her die from thirst.

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

I will not have any mercy on her children, 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 has been a prostitute, and she who conceived them has acted shamefully. She said, “I will go after my lovers, for they give me my bread and water, my wool and flax, my oil and 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 I will build up a hedge to block her way with thorns. I will build up a wall against her so she cannot find her way.

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.’

She will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them. She will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say, “I will return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than it is 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 had not known that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they then used for 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.

So I will take back her grain at harvest time, and my new wine in its season. I will take back my wool and flax that were used to cover her nakedness.

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

Then I will strip her naked in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue 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.

I will also cause all her celebrations to cease— her feasts, her new moon celebrations, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.

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 has said, 'These are the wages that my lovers gave me.' I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field will 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 feast days of the Baals, when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and she went after her lovers and forgot me— this is Yahweh's declaration.”

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.

So I am going to win her back. I will bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly 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.

I will give her back her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. She will answer me there as she did in the days of her youth, as in the days that she came out of the land of Egypt.

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

“It will be in that day—this is Yahweh's declaration— that you will call me, 'My husband,' and you will no longer call me, 'My Baal.'

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 Baals from her mouth; their names will not be remembered anymore.”

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.

“On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts in the fields, with the birds in the sky, and with the crawling things on the ground. I will drive away the bow, the sword, and the battle from the land, and I will make you 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 promise to be your husband forever. I will promise to be your husband in righteousness, justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy.

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

I will pledge myself to you in faithfulness, and you will know Yahweh.

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

On that day, I will answer—this is Yahweh's declaration— I will answer the heavens, and they will 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).

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

I will plant her for myself in the land, and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah. I will say to Lo-Ammi, 'You are Ammi Attah,' and they will say to me, 'You are my God.'”