Hosea 2

Modern

Literal

Israel’s Adultery Rebuked

¹“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’^a

and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’^b

¹“ Say of your brothers, ‘Ammi,’ and of your sisters, ‘Ruhamah.’

²Rebuke your mother,

rebuke her,

for she is not My wife,

and I am not her husband.

Let her remove the adultery from her face

and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

²Plead with your mother—plead, for she is not My wife, and I am not her Husband—that she might turn aside her prostitution from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts,

³Otherwise, I will strip her naked

and expose her like the day of her birth.

I will make her like a desert

and turn her into a parched land,

and I will let her die of thirst.

³lest I strip her naked, and expose her like the day of her being born, and make her like the desert, and set her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst!

⁴I will have no compassion on her children,

because they are the children of adultery.

⁴And I will not show compassion to her children, for they are sons of prostitution.

⁵For their mother has played the harlot

and has conceived them in disgrace.

For she thought,

‘I will go after my lovers,

who give me bread and water,

wool and linen, oil and drink.’

⁵For their mother has been a prostitute; she who conceived them has acted shamefully, for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, those giving me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’

⁶Therefore, behold,

I will hedge up her path^a with thorns;

I will enclose her with a wall,

so she cannot find her way.

⁶Therefore, behold, I am hedging up your path with thorns; and I will wall her up with a wall, so her paths she cannot find.

⁷She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;

she will seek them but not find them.

Then she will say,

‘I will return to my first husband,

for then I was better off than now.’

⁷And she will pursue her lovers, and she will not overtake them; she will seek them, and she will not find them. She will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now!’

⁸For she does not acknowledge

that it was I who gave her grain,

new wine, and oil,

who lavished on her silver and gold—

which they crafted for Baal.

⁸And she did not know that I gave to her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied for her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

⁹Therefore I will take back My grain in its time

and My new wine in its season;

I will take away My wool and linen,

which were given to cover her nakedness.

⁹Therefore I will return, and I will take away My grain in its time, and My new wine in its season; and I will snatch away My wool and My linen to cover her nakedness!

¹⁰And then I will expose her lewdness

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one will deliver her

out of My hands.

¹⁰And now I will uncover her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers, and no man will deliver her from My hand.

¹¹I will put an end to all her exultation:

her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—

all her appointed feasts.

¹¹And I will make cease all her rejoicing—her feast, her New Moon, and her Sabbath, and all her appointed feasts.

¹²I will destroy her vines and fig trees,

which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers.

So I will make them into a thicket,

and the beasts of the field will devour them.

¹²And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, “My wages, they are for me that which my lovers have given to me.” I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will devour them.

¹³I will punish her for the days of the Baals

when she burned incense to them,

when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers.

But Me she forgot,”

declares the LORD.

¹³And I will visit punishment on her for the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense and adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers—and Me she forgot,” a declaration of YHWH.

God’s Mercy to Israel

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her

and lead her to the wilderness,

and speak to her tenderly.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I am enticing her, and I will bring her into the desert, and I have spoken upon her heart.

¹⁵There I will give back her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor^a

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as she did

in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

¹⁵And I will give to her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope; and she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day of her coming up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶In that day,”

declares the LORD,

“you will call Me ‘my Husband,’^a

and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’^b

¹⁶And it will come to pass on that day, a declaration of YHWH, “That you will call out ‘My Ishi,’ and no longer will you call Me ‘My Baal.’

¹⁷For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;

no longer will their names be invoked.

¹⁷For I will take the names of the Baals from her mouth, and no longer will they be remembered by their name.

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them

with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air

and the creatures that crawl on the ground.

And I will abolish bow and sword

and battle in the land,

and will make them lie down in safety.

¹⁸And I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground. And bow and sword and battle I will break off from the earth, and I will make them lie down in safety.

¹⁹So I will betroth you to Me forever;

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,

in loving devotion^a and compassion.

¹⁹And I will betroth you to Me forever; and I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in justice, and with loving devotion, and with compassion.

²⁰And I will betroth you in faithfulness,

and you will know the LORD.”

²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you will know YHWH.

²¹“On that day I will respond— ”

declares the LORD—

“I will respond to the heavens,

and they will respond to the earth.

²¹And it will come to pass in that day that I will answer,” a declaration of YHWH, “I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth;

²²And the earth will respond to the grain,

to the new wine and oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel.^a

²²and the earth will answer with the grain, and with the new wine, and with the oil; and they will answer Jezreel,

²³And I will sow her as My own in the land,

and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’^a

I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’^b

‘You are My people,’^c

and they will say,

‘You are my God.’”

²³and I will sow her for Myself in the land, and I will show compassion to ‘Lo-ruhama;’ and I will say to ‘Lo-ammi,’ ‘You are My people,’ and he will say, ‘My God.’”