Hosea 2
1 So call your brothers, My People, and your sisters, Compassion.
“On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call your sisters Ruhamah.
2 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,
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.
3 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.
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.
4 And on her children I will have no pity, since they are children of adultery,
I will have no pity on her children because they are children of prostitution.
5 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.”
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.’
6 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.
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.
7 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.”
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.’
8 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!
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.
9 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;
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.
10 and so I will strip her naked before her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my hand.
I will strip her naked while her lovers watch; no one will be able to rescue her from me.
11 I will end all her celebrations, her yearly feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, all her festivals.
I will put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.
12 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.
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.
13 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.
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.
14 So I am going to court her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
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.
15 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.
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.
16 At that time, declares the Lord, you will call me your husband, and will no more call me your master.
Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’
17 I will remove the name of the Baals from her mouth, their names never again uttered.
I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.
18 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.
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.
19 I will take you for my wife forever, I will take you for my wife in righteousness, in justice, in kindness, and in mercy.
I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy.
20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord.
I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as the Lord.
21 On that day I will answer – declares the Lord, I will answer the empty skies, and they will answer the dry earth.
On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth.
22 The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer Jezreel,
The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows).
23 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.”
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.’”
