Hosea 2

1 Say ye to your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

“Say to your brothers—Ammi, And to your sisters—Ruhamah.

2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she [is] not my wife, neither [am] I her husband: let her therefore put away her prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Plead with your mother—plead (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband), And she turns her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts,

3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as [in] the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they [are] the children of lewdness.

And her sons I do not pity, For they [are] sons of whoredoms,

5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: 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.

For their mother has gone whoring, Their conceiver has acted shamefully, For she has said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

Therefore, behold, I am hedging up your way with thorns, And I have made a wall for her, And her paths she does not find.

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

And she has pursued her lovers, And she does not overtake them, And has sought them, and does not find [them], And she has said: I go, and I return to my first husband, For—better to me then than now.

8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, [which] they prepared for Baal.

And she did not know that I had given to her The grain, and the new wine, and the oil. Indeed, I multiplied silver to her, And the gold they prepared for Ba‘al.

9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will recover my wool and my flax [given] to cover her nakedness.

Therefore I return, And I have taken My grain in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness.

10 And now will I disclose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.

And now I reveal her dishonor before the eyes of her lovers, And none deliver her out of My hand.

11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

And I have caused all her joy to cease, Her festival, her new moon, and her Sabbath, Even all her appointed times,

12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees, of which she hath said, These [are] my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

And made desolate her vine and her fig tree, Of which she said, They [are] a wage to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And a beast of the field has consumed them.

13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, in which she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her ear-rings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the LORD.

And I have charged on her the days of the Ba‘alim, To whom she makes incense, And puts on her ring and her ornament, And goes after her lovers, And forgot Me,” a declaration of YHWH.

14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.

“Therefore, behold, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken to her heart,

15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came from the land of Egypt.

And given to her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she has responded there as in the days of her youth, And as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, [that] thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

And it has come to pass in that day,” A declaration of YHWH, “You call Me: My husband, And do not call Me anymore: My lord.

17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered anymore by their name.

18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and [with] the creeping animals of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down in safety.

And I have made a covenant for them in that day, With the beast of the field, And with the bird of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently.

19 And I will betroth thee to me for ever; yes, I will betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies.

And I have betrothed you to Me for all time, And betrothed you to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

20 I will even betroth thee to me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

And betrothed you to Me in faithfulness, And you have known YHWH.

21 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;

And it has come to pass in that day, I answer,” A declaration of YHWH, “I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth.

22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

And the earth answers the grain, And the new wine, and the oil, And they answer Jezreel.

23 And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them who were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God.

And I have sowed her to Me in the land, And I have pitied Lo-Ruhamah, And I have said to Lo-Ammi, You [are] My people, And he says, My God!”