Hosea Chapter 2

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

¹ “In that day, you will call your brothers ‘Ammi’ [my people]

      and your sisters ‘Ruhamah’ [the ones loved].’

² But for now, bring charges against your mother Israel

      because she’s not my wife

      and I’m not her husband.

Let her put away her prostitution,

      the adultery from between her breasts.

³ Otherwise, I’ll strip her naked

      and expose her like the day she was born.

I’ll make her like a wilderness, like a desert;

      she’ll die of thirst.

⁴ I won’t have mercy on her children;

      they’re children from prostitution.                                  

Hos 2:1-4

⁵ Their mother was a prostitute;

      it was a shame the way she acted.

She said, ‘I’ll go after my lovers

      that gave me bread and water,

      wool and linen, olive oil and drink.’

⁶ So I’ll plant thornbushes along the sides of her road

      and build a wall across her path

      so she can’t get to where she wants to go.

⁷ She’ll chase after her lovers, but not catch them;

      she’ll look for them, but not find them.

So she’ll say, ‘I’ll go back to my first husband,

      because it was better for me then than now!’

⁸ She doesn’t know I was the one

            that gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil;

      and lavished on her silver and gold—

            which she used for Baal.                                            

Hos 2:5-8

⁹ So I’ll take back my grain at harvest time

      and my new wine when it’s due.

I’ll take away the wool and linen

      I gave her to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰ I’ll uncover her lewdness

            in front of her lovers,

      and nobody will rescue her from me.

¹¹ I’ll put an end to her gaiety,

      her festivals, new moons, Sabbaths,

      and festive assemblies.

¹² I’ll destroy her grapevines and fig trees

      that she claimed were

            the pay her lovers gave her.

      I’ll make them a thicket

            where only wild animals can eat.

¹³ I’ll punish her for the times when she was

      offering sacrifices to the images of Baal,

      adorning herself with earrings and jewelry,

      following her lovers,

            and forgetting about me,”      the LORD says.           

Hos 2:9-13

The LORD’s Mercy on Israel

¹⁴ “So I’ll win her back, 

      bring her into the desert,

      and speak graciously to her.

¹⁵ I’ll give her vineyards there

      and the Valley of Achor as a gateway to hope.

She’ll sing there like she did when she was young,

      when she first came up from Egypt.

¹⁶ She’ll call me ‘Ishi’ [my husband], not ‘Baali’ [my lord].

¹⁷ I’ll take the many names of Baal out of her mouth;

      she won’t mention them anymore.                                   

Hos 2:14-17

¹⁸ I’ll make a treaty for her with the animals in the field,

      the birds in the sky, and what crawls on the ground.

I’ll banish bow, sword, and war from the land

      so she can lie down in safety.

¹⁹ I’ll engage her to me permanently

      in goodness, justice, and ²⁰ faithfulness.

      Then she’ll know the LORD.

²¹ At that time, I’ll answer the sky

      that pleads for rain,

            that will answer the earth,

            ²² that will answer the grain, new wine, and olive oil

                  that will answer, ‘God has sown’ [Jezreel].

²³ I’ll ‘sow’ her for myself in the land

      and have mercy on her that hadn’t received mercy.

I’ll say to those who weren’t my people,

      ‘You’re my people [Ammi]!’

      and they’ll say, ‘You’re my God [Elohai]!’”                   

Hos 2:18-23