Hosea 2:7–15

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.