Hosea 2

1 “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’

So call your brothers, My People, and your sisters, Compassion.

2 Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Accuse, accuse your mother: for she is not my wife, and I will not be her husband. Let her put her acts of infidelity out of her sight, and her lovers from between her breasts,

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

else I will strip her bare, expose her as she was on the day of her birth, make her like the wilderness, let her become like a parched land, and let her die of thirst.

4 Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy, for they are children of unfaithfulness.

And on her children I will have no pity, since they are children of adultery,

5 For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

for their mother has become a prostitute, she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. She has said, “I will go after my lovers who gave me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my oil, and my drink.”

6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.

That is why I am going to hedge up her ways with thorns, and build a wall about her, so that she cannot find her paths.

7 She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’

She will pursue her lovers, but will not overtake them. She will seek them, but not find them. In time she will say, “I will go back to my first husband, I was better off then than now.”

8 For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

She herself did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the sweet wine, and the oil, who lavished on her silver and gold – that they used in worshipping Baal!

9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

So I will take back my grain at the harvest, and my sweet wine in its season. I will withdraw my wool and my flax, given to cover her nakedness;

10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

and so I will strip her naked before her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my hand.

11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

I will end all her celebrations, her yearly feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, all her festivals.

12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field shall eat them.

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she says, “These are my wages which my lovers have given me.” I will make them a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them.

13 I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says Yahweh.

In this way I will punish her for the days of the Baals, in which she made offerings to them, and decked herself with earrings and jewels, and went after her lovers, but forgot me, – declares the Lord.

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

So I am going to court her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

15 I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor 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.

I will give her from there her vineyards, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16 It will be in that day,” says Yahweh, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’

At that time, declares the Lord, you will call me your husband, and will no more call me your master.

17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

I will remove the name of the Baals from her mouth, their names never again uttered.

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.

On that day I will make for them a covenant with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. I will break the bow and the sword, banish battle from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety.

19 I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

I will take you for my wife forever, I will take you for my wife in righteousness, in justice, in kindness, and in mercy.

20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.

I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord.

21 It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says Yahweh. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;

On that day I will answer – declares the Lord, I will answer the empty skies, and they will answer the dry earth.

22 and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.

The earth will answer with grain, and new wine and oil, and they will answer Jezreel,

23 I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My God!’”

and I will plant her in the land. I will have compassion to No-Compassion, I will say to Not-My-People, “You are my people,” and they will say, “You are my God.”