Hosea 2:6–17

6 Therefore, this is what I will do:

I will block herA wayaf with thorns;ag

I will enclose her with a wall,

so that she cannot find her paths.a

7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;b

she will look for them but not find them.

Then she will think,

“I will go back to my former husband,c

for then it was better for me than now.”d

8 She does not recognizee

that it is I who gave her the grain,f

the new wine, and the fresh oil.

I lavished silver and gold on her,

which they used for Baal.

9 Therefore, I will take back my grain in its timeg

and my new wine in its season;

I will take away my wool and linen,

which were to cover her nakedness.

10 Now I will expose her shameh

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one will rescue her from my power.

11 I will put an end to all her celebrations:i

her feasts,j New Moons,k and Sabbaths—

all her festivals.

12 I will devastate her vines and fig trees.l

She thinks that these are her wages

that her lovers have given her.

I will turn them into a thicket,m

and the wild animals will eat them.n

13 And I will punish her for the days of the Baals,o

to which she burned incense.p

She put on her rings and her jewelryq

and followed her lovers,

but she forgot me.r

This is the Lord’s declaration.

ISRAEL’S ADULTERY FORGIVEN

14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her,

lead her to the wilderness,s

and speak tenderly to her.B

15 There I will give her vineyards back to hert

and make the Valley of AchorA,u

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as she did

in the days of her youth,v

as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 In that day—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

you will call me, “My husband,”w

and no longer call me, “My Baal.”B

17 For I will remove the names of the Baals

from her mouth;

they will no longer be remembered by their names.