Hosea 2

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

“On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call your sisters Ruhamah.

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:

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 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;

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, not have compassion, —because, the children of paramours, they are.

I will have no pity on her children because they are children of prostitution.

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.

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

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 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!

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 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!

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 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.

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 Now, therefore, will I expose her unseemliness, before the eyes of her lovers, —and no, man, 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 And I will cause to cease all her mirth, her pilgrim-festival, her new moon and her sabbath, —and her every appointed meeting;

I will put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.

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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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 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"].

Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’

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.

I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.

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.

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 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:

I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy.

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

I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as 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;

On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer 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"].

The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows).

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!

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.’”