UHoseya 2

1 Khulumani kubafowenu lithi: Ami; lakubodadewenu lithi: Ruhama.

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

2 Phikisanani lonyoko, liphikise, ngoba kasuye umkami, lami kangisiyo indoda yakhe, ukuthi asuse ukuwula kwakhe phambi kwami, lokufeba kwakhe ngaphakathi kwamabele akhe,

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;

3 hlezi ngimhlubule abe nqunu, ngimbeke abe njengosukwini lokuzalwa kwakhe, ngimenze afanane lenkangala, ngimbeke njengelizwe elomileyo, ngimbulale ngokoma.

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.

4 Labantwana bakhe kangiyikubahawukela, ngoba bangabantwana bobufebe.

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

5 Ngoba unina uwulile, owabazalayo wenzile ihlazo; ngoba wathi: Ngizazilandela izithandwa zami, ezingipha ukudla kwami, lamanzi ami, uboya bezimvu bami, lefilakisi yami, amafutha ami, lokunathwayo kwami.

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.’

6 Ngakho, khangela, ngizabiya indlela yakho ngameva, ngimakhele umduli ukuze angatholi imikhondo yakhe.

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.

7 Alandele izithandwa zakhe, kodwa angazifici; uzazidinga, kodwa angazitholi. Abesesithi: Ngizahamba ngibuyele endodeni yami yokuqala, ngoba kwakungcono kimi ngalesosikhathi kulakhathesi.

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.’

8 Ngoba wayengazi ukuthi mina ngamnika amabele, lewayini elitsha, lamafutha, ngamandisela isiliva legolide, abalisebenzisela uBhali.

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.

9 Ngakho ngizabuyela, ngithathe amabele ami ngesikhathi sawo, lewayini lami elitsha ngesikhathi salo esimisiweyo, ngihluthune uboya bezimvu bami lefilakisi yami okwembesa ubunqunu bakhe.

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.

10 Khathesi sengizakwambula ihlazo lakhe emehlweni ezithandwa zakhe, njalo kungabi khona omophulayo esandleni sami.

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

11 Sengizaqeda intokozo yakhe yonke, amadili akhe, ukuthwasa kwenyanga zakhe, lamasabatha akhe, lemikhosi yakhe yonke emisiweyo.

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

12 Sengizachitha ivini lakhe lomkhiwa wakhe, atsho ngakho ukuthi: Lokhu kungumvuzo wobuwule bami izithandwa zami ezinginike khona; kodwa ngizakwenza kube ligusu, ukuze inyamazana zeganga zikudle.

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.

13 Njalo ngizaphindisela phezu kwakhe insuku zaboBhali, ayebatshisela ngazo impepha, ezicecisa ngamasongo akhe langamangqongqo akhe, walandela izithandwa zakhe, kodwa wangikhohlwa, itsho iNkosi.

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 the LORD.

14 Ngakho, khangela, ngizamhuga, ngimuse enkangala, ngikhulume enhliziyweni yakhe.

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

15 Ngibe sengimnika izivini zakhe kusukela lapho, lesihotsha seAkori, sibe ngumnyango wethemba. Njalo uzahlabela lapho njengensukwini zobutsha bakhe, lanjengosuku lokwenyuka kwakhe elizweni leGibhithe.

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.

16 Kuzakuthi ngalolosuku, itsho iNkosi, ungibize uthi: Ndoda yami; ungabe usangibiza ngokuthi: Bhali wami.

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

17 Ngoba ngizasusa amabizo aboBhali emlonyeni wakhe, bangabe besakhunjulwa futhi ngebizo labo.

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

18 Langalolosuku ngizabenzela isivumelwano lenyamazana zeganga lenyoni zamazulu lezinto ezihuquzelayo zomhlaba; ngephule idandili, lenkemba, lempi kusuke emhlabeni, ngibalalise phansi bevikelekile.

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.

19 Njalo ngizakugana ube ngowami kuze kube phakade, yebo, ngikugane ube ngowami ngokulunga langesahlulelo langothandolomusa langezihawu.

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

20 Yebo, ngizakugana ube ngowami ngothembeko; njalo uzayazi iNkosi.

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

21 Kuzakuthi ngalolosuku, ngizaphendula, itsho iNkosi, ngizaphendula amazulu, wona aphendule umhlaba,

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;

22 lomhlaba uphendule amabele lewayini elitsha lamafutha, khona kuphendule uJizereyeli.

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

23 Besengizihlanyelela yena emhlabeni, ngibe lomusa phezu kongazuzanga umusa, ngithi kwababengasibantu bami: Lina lingabantu bami; bona bathi: Nkulunkulu wami.

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!’”