Hosea 2

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

Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied.

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;

Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband: and I will remove her fornication out of my presence, and her adultery 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.

that I may strip her naked, and make her again as she was at the day of her birth: and I will make her desolate, and make her as a dry land, and will kill her with thirst.

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

And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.

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.’

And their mother went a-whoring: she that bore them disgraced [them]: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, and my garments, and my linen clothes, my oil and my necessaries.

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.

Therefore, behold, I hedge up her way with thorns, and I will stop the ways, and she shall not find her path.

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.’

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

And she knew not that I gave her her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied silver to her: but she made silver and gold [images] for 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.

Therefore I will return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its time; and I will take away my raiment and my linen clothes, so that she shall not 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 now I will expose her uncleanness before her lovers, and no one shall by any means 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.

And I will take away all her gladness, her feasts, and her festivals at the new moon, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

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.

And I will utterly destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, all things of which she said, These are my hire which my lovers have given me: and I will make them a testimony, and the wild beasts of the field, and the birds of the sky, and the reptiles of the earth shall devour them.

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

And I will recompense on her the days of Baalim, wherein she sacrificed to them, and put on her ear-rings, and her necklaces, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.

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

Therefore, behold, I [will] cause her to err, and will make her as desolate, and will speak comfortably 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.

And I will giver her possessions from thence, and the valley of Achor to open her understanding: and she shall be afflicted there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

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

And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, [that] she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim.

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

And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all.

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.

And I will make for them in that day a covenant with the wild beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the reptiles of the earth: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle from off the earth, and will cause you to dwell safely.

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.

And I will betroth you to myself for ever; yes, I will betroth you to myself in righteousness, and in judgement, and in mercy, and in tender compassions;

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

and I will betroth you to myself in faithfulness: and you shall know the Lord.

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

And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I will listen to the heaven, and it shall listen to the earth;

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

and the earth shall listen to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall listen to Jezrael.

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 sow her to me on the earth; and will love her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are the Lord my God.