Hosea 2

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

So call your brothers, My People, and your sisters, Compassion.

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,

Accuse, accuse your mother: for she is not my wife, and I will not be her husband. Let her put her acts of infidelity out of her sight, and her lovers 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.

else I will strip her bare, expose her as she was on the day of her birth, make her like the wilderness, let her become like a parched land, and let her die of thirst.

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

And on her children I will have no pity, since they are children of adultery,

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 become a prostitute, she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. She has said, ‘I will go after my lovers who gave me my bread and my water, my wool, 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.

That is why I am going to hedge up her ways with thorns, and build a wall about her, so that she cannot 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.

She will pursue her lovers, but will not overtake them. She will seek them, but not find them. In time she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, I was better off then than 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.

She herself did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the sweet wine, and the oil, who lavished on her silver and gold – that they used in worshipping 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.

So I will take back my grain at the harvest, and my sweet wine in its season. I will withdraw my wool and my flax, given to cover her nakedness;

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

and so I will strip her naked before her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of 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,

I will end all her celebrations, her yearly feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, all her festivals.

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.

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she says, ‘These are my wages which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them.

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.

In this way I will punish her for the days of the Baals, in which she made offerings to them, and decked herself with earrings and jewels, and went after her lovers, but forgot me, – declares 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,

So I am going to court her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

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.

I will give her from there her vineyards, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came up 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.

At that time, declares the Lord, you will call me your husband, and will no more call me your master.

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

I will remove the name of the Baals from her mouth, their names never again uttered.

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.

On that day I will make for them a covenant with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. I will break the bow and the sword, banish battle from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety.

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,

I will take you for my wife forever, I will take you for my wife in righteousness, in justice, in kindness, and in mercy.

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

I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will know 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.

On that day I will answer – declares the Lord, I will answer the empty skies, and they will answer the dry earth.

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

The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer 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 in the land. I will have compassion to No-Compassion, I will say to Not-My-People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’