< Hosea 2 >

1 Say vnto your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah,
“Say to your brothers—Ammi, And to your sisters—Ruhamah.
2 Plead with your mother: plead with her: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: but let her take away her fornications out of her sight, and her adulteries from betweene her breasts.
Plead with your mother—plead (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband), And she turns her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts,
3 Lest I strippe her naked, and set her as in the day that shee was borne, and make her as a wildernes, and leaue her like a drie land, and slaie her for thirst.
Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as [in] the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.
4 And I wil haue no pitie vpon her children: for they be the children of fornications.
And her sons I do not pity, For they [are] sons of whoredoms,
5 For their mother hath plaied the harlot: she that conceiued them, hath done shamefully: for shee said, I will goe after my louers that giue me my bread and my water, my wooll and my flaxe, mine oyle and my drinke.
For their mother has gone whoring, Their conceiver has acted shamefully, For she has said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.
6 Therefore beholde, I will stoope thy way with thornes, and make an hedge, that shee shall not finde her pathes.
Therefore, behold, I am hedging up your way with thorns, And I have made a wall for her, And her paths she does not find.
7 Though shee follow after her louers, yet shall shee not come at them: though shee seeke them, yet shall shee not finde them: then shall she say, I will goe and returne to my first husband: for at that time was I better then nowe.
And she has pursued her lovers, And she does not overtake them, And has sought them, and does not find [them], And she has said: I go, and I return to my first husband, For—better to me then than now.
8 Nowe she did not knowe that I gaue her corne, and wine, and oyle, and multiplied her siluer and golde, which they bestowed vpon Baal.
And she did not know that I had given to her The grain, and the new wine, and the oil. Indeed, I multiplied silver to her, And the gold they prepared for Ba‘al.
9 Therefore wil I returne, and take away my corne in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recouer my wool and my flaxe lent, to couer her shame.
Therefore I return, And I have taken My grain in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness.
10 And now will I discouer her lewdnes in the sight of her louers, and no man shall deliuer her out of mine hand.
And now I reveal her dishonor before the eyes of her lovers, And none deliver her out of My hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast daies, her newe moones, and her Sabbathes, and all her solemne feasts.
And I have caused all her joy to cease, Her festival, her new moon, and her Sabbath, Even all her appointed times,
12 And I wil destroy her vines and her figtrees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my louers haue giuen mee: and I will make them as a forest, and the wilde beasts shall eate them.
And made desolate her vine and her fig tree, Of which she said, They [are] a wage to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And a beast of the field has consumed them.
13 And I wil visit vpon her the daies of Baalim, wherein shee burnt incense to them: and shee decked her selfe with her earings and her iewels, and shee folowed her louers, and forgate me, saith the Lord.
And I have charged on her the days of the Ba‘alim, To whom she makes incense, And puts on her ring and her ornament, And goes after her lovers, And forgot Me,” a declaration of YHWH.
14 Therefore beholde, I will allure her, and bring her into the wildernesse, and speake friendly vnto her.
“Therefore, behold, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken to her heart,
15 And I will giue her her vineyardes from thence, and the valley of Achor for the doore of hope, and shee shall sing there as in the daies of her youth, and as in the daies when shee came vp out of the land of Egypt.
And given to her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she has responded there as in the days of her youth, And as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.
16 And at that day, sayeth the Lord, thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali.
And it has come to pass in that day,” A declaration of YHWH, “You call Me: My husband, And do not call Me anymore: My lord.
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall be no more remembred by their names.
And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered anymore by their name.
18 And in that day wil I make a couenant for them, with the wilde beasts, and with the foules of the heauen, and with that that creepeth vpon the earth: and I will breake the bowe, and the sworde and the battell out of the earth, and will make them to sleepe safely.
And I have made a covenant for them in that day, With the beast of the field, And with the bird of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently.
19 And I wil marry thee vnto me for euer: yea, I will marry thee vnto me in righteousnes, and in iudgement, and in mercy and in compassion.
And I have betrothed you to Me for all time, And betrothed you to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,
20 I will euen marry thee vnto me in faithfulnes, and thou shalt knowe the Lord.
And betrothed you to Me in faithfulness, And you have known YHWH.
21 And in that day I wil heare, saith the Lord, I will euen heare the heauens, and they shall heare the earth,
And it has come to pass in that day, I answer,” A declaration of YHWH, “I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth.
22 And the earth shall heare the corne, and the wine, and the oyle, and they shall heare Izreel.
And the earth answers the grain, And the new wine, and the oil, And they answer Jezreel.
23 And I will sowe her vnto me in the earth, and I will haue mercie vpon her, that was not pitied, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people. And they shall say, Thou art my God.
And I have sowed her to Me in the land, And I have pitied Lo-Ruhamah, And I have said to Lo-Ammi, You [are] My people, And he says, My God!”

< Hosea 2 >