Hosea 2

1 [At that time, ] you will say to your fellow-Israeli men, “[You are] God’s people,” and [you will say] to your fellow-Israeli women, “You are ones whom God loves.”

Say ye to your brethren: You are my people, and to your sister: Thou hast obtained mercy.

2 [Yahweh also said to me], “I want you to accuse the Israeli people. [It is as though] [MET] this nation is your mother, but this nation is [no longer as though it is] [MET] my wife, and it is [no longer as though] [MET] I am its husband. Tell the Israeli people that they must stop [acting like] a prostitute [by worshiping other gods]; they must stop showing by their behavior that they (are unfaithful to/have abandoned) [me] [MET].

Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts.

3 If they do not do that, I will not give them [food and] clothes [as a husband should give to his wife]; I will take away those things, and I will cause their nation to become [as deserted] as it was on the day that I [brought their ancestors out of Egypt and caused them to become a nation] [MET]. I will cause their country to be like [SIM] a desert; there will be no rain to water the ground [MET].

Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born: and I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land that none can pass through, and will kill her with drought.

4 I will not pity the people, because they have [abandoned me] as [MET] prostitutes abandon their husbands.

And I will not have mercy on her children: for they are the children of fornications.

5 Their parents are like prostitutes [MET]: they have been unfaithful [to me], and they have done [very] disgraceful things. They said, ‘We will run to [our idols/gods] who love us; [they are the ones] who give us food and water and wool and linen and [olive] oil, and [wine to] drink.’

For their mother hath committed fornication, she that conceived them is covered with shame: for she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink.

6 So [it will be as though] [MET] I am blocking their road with thornbushes, and putting put a wall around them so that they do not know which way to go.

Wherefore behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.

7 They will run to their idols/gods that [they think] love them, but they will not find them. They will search for their false gods, but they will not find them. Then they will say, ‘[Perhaps] we should return to [Yahweh], whom we worshiped previously [MET], because things were better for us then than they are now.’

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

8 But they do not realize that I, [Yahweh], am the one who gave them grain and wine and [olive] oil; I am the one who gave them silver and gold which they used to worship Baal.

And she did not know that I gave her corn and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver, and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal.

9 Therefore I will return and take my grain and grapes from them when they are ripe. I will take from them the wool and linen that I gave to them [to make their clothes] [MTY].

Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its season, and I will set at liberty my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace.

10 I will show those false gods/idols that what my people are doing is disgusting [MET], and no one will be able to hinder me from [punishing them].

And now I will lay open her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand:

11 I will cause their religious celebrations to cease, the festivals that they celebrate every year and at every new moon and on their (Sabbath days/weekly days of rest). I will cause all their religious celebrations to cease.

And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times.

12 I will destroy [all] their grapevines and fig trees, which they said were what their [idols/gods] who loved them paid them for worshiping those idols. I will cause those places to become a desert, and wild animals will eat the fruit [that remains].

And I will destroy her vines, and her fig trees, of which she said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me: and I will make her as a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour her.

13 I will punish my people for [all] the times that they burned incense to [honor] the idols of Baal. They decorated themselves with rings and jewelry, and they went to worship those [false gods/idols] that [they thought] [IRO] loved them, but they abandoned/forgot me! [That is what I], Yahweh, say.

And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, to whom she burnt incense, and decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord.

14 But listen! [Some day] I will persuade my people [to worship me again]; I will lead them [out] into the desert and speak kindly to them [there].

Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart.

15 I will give their vineyards [back] to them, and I will cause Achor Valley, [which means ‘valley of trouble'], to become a valley where they will confidently expect [me to do good things for them]. They will (respond to/want to please) me there like they did long ago, when I freed them from [being slaves in] Egypt.

And I will give her vinedressers out of the same place, and the valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there according to the days of her youth, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

16 At that time, they will say to me, ‘[It is as though] [MET] you are our husband.’ They will not say that I am their [master, like they considered that] Baal [was].

And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, That she shall call me: My husband, and she shall call me no more Baali.

17 I will not allow them to speak [MTY] the names of Baal; they will never use those names again.

And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name.

18 At that time [it will be as though] I will make an agreement with [all] the wild animals and birds, and [even with] the little animals that scurry across the ground, so that they will never harm my people [again]. And I will remove from their nation all the weapons [for fighting] battles, [like] swords and bows [and arrows]. The result will be that my people will live peacefully and safely, and will not be afraid.

And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure.

19 I will cause them to be [as though they are] [MET] my bride forever. I will be righteous and fair/just; I will faithfully love them and be kind to them.

And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations.

20 I will not abandon them, and they will realize [that I] Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do.]

And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

21 At that time, [when they request me to do things for them], [I will do those things]. When they request clouds and rain to fall on their land, I will speak to the clouds, and rain will fall on the earth,

And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.

22 and grain will grow, and the vineyards and the olive trees will grow in Jezreel [Valley].

And the earth shall hear the core, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel.

23 [At that time], I will take care of the Israeli people [like a farmer plants and takes care of his crops] [MET]. I will love those people that I previously said were ones I did not love, and I previously said, ‘You are not my people,’ and [then] they will say to me, ‘You are our God.’”

And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. And I will say to that which was not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God.