Hosea 2

1 Say ye unto your brethren, O Ammi ["O my people"], and unto your sisters, O Ruhamah ["O compassionated one"]:

Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied.

2 Contend ye with your mother, contend, for she is no wife of mine, and I am no husband of hers, Let her then put away her paramours from before her, and her partners in adultery, from her embraces:

Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband: and I will remove her fornication out of my presence, and her adultery from between her breasts:

3 Lest I strip off her under-clothing, and set her forth to view, as in the day she was born, —and make her like a wilderness, and render her like a land that is parched, and suffer her to die of thirst;

that I may strip her naked, and make her again as she was at the day of her birth: and I will make her desolate, and make her as a dry land, and will kill her with thirst.

4 And, on her children, not have compassion, —because, the children of paramours, they are.

And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.

5 For their mother, hath been unchaste, and she that conceived them, hath caused shame, —for she said, Let me go after my lovers! who used to give my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, mine oil, and my drink.

And their mother went a-whoring: she that bore them disgraced [them]: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, and my garments, and my linen clothes, my oil and my necessaries.

6 Therefore, behold me! hedging up her way, with thorns, —and I will wall her in, and, her footpaths, shall she not find.

Therefore, behold, I hedge up her way with thorns, and I will stop the ways, and she shall not find her path.

7 And, when she shall pursue her lovers, and not overtake them, and shall seek them and not find, then will she say, Let me go my way now! and return unto my first husband, for it was better with me, then, than, now!

And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: and she shall say, I will go, and return to my former husband; for it was better with me than now.

8 But, she, owneth not, that, I, gave her—the corn, and the new wine and the oil, —silver, also increased I unto her, and gold—[which] they offered to Baal!

And she knew not that I gave her her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied silver to her: but she made silver and gold [images] for Baal.

9 Therefore, will I again take away my corn, in the time thereof, and my new wine, in the season thereof, —and will recover my wool and my flax [given] to hide her shame.

Therefore I will return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its time; and I will take away my raiment and my linen clothes, so that she shall not cover her nakedness.

10 Now, therefore, will I expose her unseemliness, before the eyes of her lovers, —and no, man, shall deliver her out of my hand!

And now I will expose her uncleanness before her lovers, and no one shall by any means deliver her out of my hand.

11 And I will cause to cease all her mirth, her pilgrim-festival, her new moon and her sabbath, —and her every appointed meeting;

And I will take away all her gladness, her feasts, and her festivals at the new moon, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

12 And will lay waste her vine and her fig- tree, as to which she hath said, A present, are they for myself, which my lovers, have given me, —and I will make of them a thicket, and the wild beasts of the field shall devour them.

And I will utterly destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, all things of which she said, These are my hire which my lovers have given me: and I will make them a testimony, and the wild beasts of the field, and the birds of the sky, and the reptiles of the earth shall devour them.

13 So will I visit upon her the days of the Baals, unto whom she used to burn incense, and decked herself with her nose-ring and her jewelry, and went her way after her lovers, —whereas, me, she forgat, Declareth Yahweh.

And I will recompense on her the days of Baalim, wherein she sacrificed to them, and put on her ear-rings, and her necklaces, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord.

14 Therefore, lo! I, am going to persuade her, and, though I conduct her forth into wilderness, yet will I speak unto her heart.

Therefore, behold, I [will] cause her to err, and will make her as desolate, and will speak comfortably to her.

15 Then will I give to her her vineyards from thence, and the vale of Achor ["trouble"] 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 I will giver her possessions from thence, and the valley of Achor to open her understanding: and she shall be afflicted there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

16 And it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth Yahweh, that she will call me Ishi ["My husband"], and will not call me any more, Baali ["Mine owner"].

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, [that] she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim.

17 So will I take away the names of the Baals, out of her mouth, —and they shall not be called to mind any more, by their name.

And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all.

18 And I will solemnize to them a covenant, in that day, with the wild-beast of the field, and with the bird of the heavens, and the creeping thing of the ground, —and, bow and sword and battle, will I break in pieces out of the land, so will I cause them to lie down, in security.

And I will make for them in that day a covenant with the wild beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the reptiles of the earth: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle from off the earth, and will cause thee to dwell safely.

19 And I will take thee unto myself, unto times age-abiding, —yea I will take thee unto myself, in righteousness and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in abounding compassion:

And I will betroth thee to myself for ever; yea, I will betroth thee to myself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in tender compassions;

20 Yea I will take thee unto myself, in faithfulness, —So shalt thou know Yahweh.

and I will betroth thee to myself in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will respond, Declareth Yahweh, I will respond to the heavens, —and, they, shall respond to the earth;

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, I will hearken to the heaven, and it shall hearken to the earth;

22 And, the earth, shall respond to the corn, and to the new wine and to the oil, —and, they, shall respond to Jezreel ["Whom GOD scattereth," "Whom GOD soweth"].

and the earth shall hearken to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hearken to Jezrael.

23 So will I sow her unto me in the land, and will have compassion upon the uncompassionated one ["Lo-ruhamah"], —and will say to him who was No-people-of-mine ["Lo-ammi"], My people, thou art, and, he, shall say, My God!

And I will sow her to me on the earth; and will love her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art the Lord my God.