Hosea 2

1 Say to your brothers, 'My people!' and to your sisters, 'You have been shown compassion.'”

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

2 Bring a lawsuit against your mother, bring a lawsuit, for she is not my wife, and neither am I her husband. Let her put away her prostitution from before herself, and her acts of adultery from between her breasts.

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 not, I will strip her naked and show her nakedness as on the day that she was born. I will make her like the wilderness, like a parched land, and I will make her die from thirst.

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 have any mercy on her children, for they are children of prostitution.

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

5 For their mother has been a prostitute, and she who conceived them has acted shamefully. She said, “I will go after my lovers, for they give me my bread and water, my wool and flax, my oil and 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 Therefore I will build up a hedge to block her way with thorns. I will build up a wall against her so she cannot find her way.

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 She will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them. She will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say, “I will return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than it is 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 For she had not known that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they then used for 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 So I will take back her grain at harvest time, and my new wine in its season. I will take back my wool and flax that were used to cover her nakedness.

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 Then I will strip her naked in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her out of my hand.

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 also cause all her celebrations to cease— her feasts, her new moon celebrations, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.

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 her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, 'These are the wages that my lovers gave me.' I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field will eat them.

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 her for the feast days of the Baals, when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and she went after her lovers and forgot me— this is Yahweh's declaration.”

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 So I am going to win her back. I will bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

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

15 I will give her back her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. She will answer me there as she did in the days of her youth, as in the days that she came out of the land of 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 “It will be in that day—this is Yahweh's declaration— that you will call me, 'My husband,' and you will no longer call me, 'My Baal.'

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 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; their names will not be remembered anymore.”

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

18 “On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts in the fields, with the birds in the sky, and with the crawling things on the ground. I will drive away the bow, the sword, and the battle from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

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 promise to be your husband forever. I will promise to be your husband in righteousness, justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy.

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 pledge myself to you in faithfulness, and you will know Yahweh.

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

21 On that day, I will answer—this is Yahweh's declaration— I will answer the heavens, and they will answer 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 The earth will answer the grain, the new wine and the oil, and they will answer Jezreel.

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

23 I will plant her for myself in the land, and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah. I will say to Lo-Ammi, 'You are Ammi Attah,' and they will say to me, 'You are my 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.