Hosea 2

1 “Say to your brothers—Ammi, And to your sisters—Ruhamah.

“Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’

2 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,

Judge your mother, judge: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her fornications from before her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.

3 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.

Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.

4 And her sons I do not pity, For they [are] sons of whoredoms,

And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of fornications.

5 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.

For their mother has been fornicating; she who conceived them has been brought to ruin. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

6 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.

Because of this, behold, I will fence in your way with thorns, and I will surround it with a wall, and she will not find her paths.

7 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.

And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not obtain them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was to some extent better for me then, than it is now.’

8 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.

And she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into Baal.

9 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.

For this reason, I will turn back, and I will take away my grain in its time and my wine in its time, and I will set free my wool and my flax, which had covered her disgrace.

10 And now I reveal her dishonor before the eyes of her lovers, And none deliver her out of My hand.

And now, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my hand.

11 And I have caused all her joy to cease, Her festival, her new moon, and her Sabbath, Even all her appointed times,

And I will cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her feast dates.

12 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.

And I will corrupt her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These rewards, they are mine, my lovers have given them to me.’ And I will place her in a narrow forest, and the beasts of the field will devour her.

13 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.

And I will inflict on her the days of the Baals, for whom she burned incense, and ornamented herself with earrings and necklace, and went after her lovers, and forgot about me,” says the Lord.

14 “Therefore, behold, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken to her heart,

“Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.

15 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.

And I will give to her, from the same place, her vinedressers, and the valley of Achor as a passage of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days of her ascension from the land of Egypt.

16 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.

And it will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’

17 And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered anymore by their name.

And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.

18 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.

And in that day, I will strike a deal with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creatures of the earth. And I will crush the bow and the sword, and I will wipe away war from the earth. And I will let them sleep securely.

19 And I have betrothed you to Me for all time, And betrothed you to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

And I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.

20 And betrothed you to Me in faithfulness, And you have known YHWH.

And I will wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.

21 And it has come to pass in that day, I answer,” A declaration of YHWH, “I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth.

And this will happen in that day: I will listen closely,” says the Lord. “I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth.

22 And the earth answers the grain, And the new wine, and the oil, And they answer Jezreel.

And the land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.

23 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!”

And I will plant her for me in the land, and I will have mercy on her, though she had been called Without Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”