Hosea 2

CHAPTER 2

No Compassion for Children of Harlotry

¹¹Say to your brothers, “²Ammi,” and to your sisters, “³Ruhamah.”

²“Contend with your mother, ^acontend,

For she is ^bnot my wife, and I am not her husband;

And let her remove her ^charlotry from her face

And her adultery from between her breasts,

³Lest I strip her ^anaked

And set her forth as on the ^bday when she was born

And ^cmake her like a wilderness

And ¹make her like dry land

And put her to death with ^dthirst.

⁴“Also, I will have no compassion on her children

Because they are ^achildren of harlotry.

⁵“For their mother has ^aplayed the harlot;

She who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, ‘^bI will go after my lovers,

Who ^cgive me my bread and my water,

My wool and my flax, my ^doil and my drink.’

⁶“Therefore, behold, I will ^ahedge up ¹her way with ^bthorns,

And I will build ²a wall against her so that she cannot find her ^cpaths.

⁷“So she will ^apursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;

And she will seek them, but will not find them.

Then she will say, ‘^bI will go, and I will return to my ^cfirst husband,

For it was ^dbetter for me then than now!’

⁸“Now she does ^anot know that it was ^bI who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

And multiplied silver and gold for her,

Which they ¹used for Baal.

⁹“Therefore, I will ^atake back My grain at ¹harvest time

And My new wine in its season.

I will also deliver My wool and My flax from them

Given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰“So now I will ^auncover her lewdness

In the sight of her lovers,

And no one will deliver her out of My hand.

¹¹“I will also ^acease all her joy,

Her ^bfeasts, her ^cnew moons, her sabbaths,

And all her appointed times.

¹²“And I will ^amake desolate her vines and fig trees,

Of which she said, ‘These are my wages

Which my lovers have given me.’

And I will ^bmake them a forest,

And the ^cbeasts of the field will devour them.

¹³“So I will visit the ^adays of the Baals upon her

When she used to ^1boffer offerings in smoke to them

And ^cadorn herself with her ²earrings and jewelry

And go after her lovers, so that she ^dforgot Me,” declares Yahweh.

Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her

^aAnd bring her into the wilderness

And speak to her heart.

¹⁵“Then I will give her her ^avineyards from there

And ^bthe valley of Achor as a door of hope.

And she will ^1csing there as in the days of her youth,

As in the ^dday when she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶“And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,

“That you will call Me ^1aIshi

And will no longer call Me ²Baali.

¹⁷“So ^aI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth

So that they will be remembered by their names no more.

¹⁸“And in that day I will cut a covenant for them

With the ^abeasts of the field,

The birds of the sky,

And the creeping things of the ground.

And I will ^bbreak the bow, the sword, and war from the land,

And I will make them ^clie down in security.

¹⁹“And I will ^abetroth you to Me forever;

Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in ^brighteousness and in justice,

In lovingkindness and in compassion,

²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.

Then you will ^aknow Yahweh.

²¹“And it will be in that day, that ^aI will answer,” declares Yahweh.

“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,

²²And the ^aearth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

And they will answer ¹Jezreel.

²³“And I will ^asow her for Myself in the land.

^bI will also have compassion on ¹her who had not obtained compassion,

And ^cI will say to ²those who were ^dnot My people,

‘You are My people!’

And ³they will say, ‘You are my God!’”