Hosea 2

1 "Say to your brothers, 'My People.' and to your sisters, 'Compassion.'

'Say ye to your brethren — Ammi, And to your sisters — Ruhamah.

2 Contend with your mother. Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Plead ye with your mother — plead, (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband, ) And she turneth her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts,

3 Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with 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 Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;

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

5 For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; 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.'

For gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath 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, look, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can't find her way.

Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find.

7 She will follow after her lovers, but she won't overtake them; and she will seek them, but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.'

And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For — better to me then than now.

8 For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

And she knew not that I had given to her, The corn, and the new wine, and the oil. Yea, silver I did multiply to her, And the gold they prepared for Baal.

9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

Therefore do I turn back, And I have taken My corn 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 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

And now do I reveal her dishonour before the eyes of her lovers, And none doth deliver her out of My hand.

11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

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

12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,' and the animals of the field shall eat them.

And made desolate her vine and her fig-tree, Of which she said, A gift they [are] to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And consumed them hath a beast of the field.

13 I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me," says Jehovah.

And I have charged on her the days of the Baalim, To whom she maketh perfume, And putteth on her ring and her ornament, And goeth after her lovers, And Me forgat — an affirmation of Jehovah.

14 "Therefore, look, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

Therefore, lo, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken unto her heart,

15 I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

And given to her her vineyards from thence, And the valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she hath 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 It will be in that day," says Jehovah, "that you will call me 'my husband,' and no longer call me 'my master.'

And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, Thou dost call Me — My husband, And dost not call Me any more — My lord.

17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

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

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the crawling creatures of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.

And I have made to them a covenant in that day, with the beast of the field, And with the fowl 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 I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

And I have betrothed thee to Me to the age, And betrothed thee to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Jehovah.

And betrothed thee to Me in faithfulness, And thou hast known Jehovah.

21 It will happen in that day, I will respond," says Jehovah, "I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;

And it hath come to pass in that day, I answer — an affirmation of Jehovah, I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth.

22 and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.

And the earth doth answer the corn, And the new wine, and the oil, And they answer Jezreel.

23 And I will sow her for myself in the land; and I will compassion on No Compassion; and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people;' and they will say, '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, My people thou [art], and it saith, My God!'