Hosea 2
1Say to your brothers, 'My people!' 1 and to your sisters, 'You have been shown compassion.'” 1
2Bring a lawsuit against your mother, bring a lawsuit, 2 for she is not my wife, 2 and neither am I her husband. 1 Let her put away her prostitution from before herself, 1 and her acts of adultery from between her breasts. 1
3If not, I will strip her naked 1 and show her nakedness as on the day that she was born. 1 I will make her like the wilderness, 1 like a parched land, 1 and I will make her die from thirst. 1
4I will not have any mercy on her children, 1 for they are children of prostitution. 1
5For their mother has been a prostitute, 1 and she who conceived them has acted shamefully. 1 She said, “I will go after my lovers, 1 for they give me my bread and water, 1 my wool and flax, 1 my oil and drink.” 1
6Therefore I will build up a hedge to block her way with thorns. 1 I will build up a wall against her 1 so she cannot find her way. 1
7She will pursue her lovers, 1 but she will not overtake them. 1 She will seek them, 1 but she will not find them. 1 Then she will say, 1 “I will return to my first husband, 1 for it was better for me then than it is now.” 1
8For she had not known that it was I who gave her 1 the grain, the new wine and the oil, 1 and who lavished on her silver and gold, 1 which they then used for Baal. 1
9So I will take back her grain at harvest time, 1 and my new wine in its season. 1 I will take back my wool and flax 1 that were used to cover her nakedness. 1
10Then I will strip her naked in the sight of her lovers, 1 and no one will rescue her out of my hand. 1
11I will also cause all her celebrations to cease— 1 her feasts, her new moon celebrations, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals. 1
12“I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, 1 of which she has said, 1 'These are the wages that my lovers gave me.' 1 I will make them a forest, 1 and the animals of the field will eat them. 1
13I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals, 1 when she burned incense to them, 1 when she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, 1 and she went after her lovers and forgot me— 1 this is Yahweh's declaration.” 1
14So I am going to win her back. I will bring her into the wilderness 1 and speak tenderly to her. 1
15I will give her back her vineyards, 1 and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. 1 She will answer me there as she did in the days of her youth, 1 as in the days that she came out of the land of Egypt. 1
16“It will be in that day—this is Yahweh's declaration— 1 that you will call me, 'My husband,' 1 and you will no longer call me, 'My Baal.' 1
17For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; 1 their names will not be remembered anymore.” 1
18“On that day I will make a covenant for them 1 with the beasts in the fields, 1 with the birds in the sky, 1 and with the crawling things on the ground. 1 I will drive away the bow, the sword, and the battle from the land, 1 and I will make you lie down in safety. 1
19I will promise to be your husband forever. 1 I will promise to be your husband in righteousness, justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy. 1
20I will pledge myself to you in faithfulness, 1 and you will know Yahweh. 1
21On that day, 1 I will answer—this is Yahweh's declaration— 1 I will answer the heavens, 1 and they will answer the earth. 1
22The earth will answer the grain, the new wine and the oil, 1 and they will answer Jezreel. 1
23I will plant her for myself in the land, 1 and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah. 1 I will say to Lo-Ammi, 1 'You are Ammi Attah,' 1 and they will say to me, 'You are my God.'”