Hosea 2:1–13

“You are to call your brothers, ‘my people,’ and your sisters, ‘you have been shown pity.’

God Speaks About Israel

²“Plead with your mother. ⁿ

Accuse her, because she is no longer my wife,

and I am no longer her husband.

Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute,

to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.

³If she refuses, I will strip her naked

and leave her bare like the day she was born.

I will make her dry like a desert,

like a land without water,

and I will kill her with thirst.

⁴I will not take pity on her children,

because they are the children of a prostitute.

⁵Their mother has acted like a prostitute;

the one who became pregnant with them has acted disgracefully.

She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers, ⁿ

who give me my food and water,

wool and flax, wine and olive oil.’

⁶So I will block her road with thornbushes;

I will build a wall around her

so she cannot find her way.

⁷She will run after her lovers,

but she won’t catch them.

She will look for them,

but she won’t find them.

Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, ⁿ

because life was better then for me than it is now.’

⁸But she does not know that I was the one

who gave her grain, new wine, and oil.

I gave her much silver and gold,

but she used it for Baal.

⁹“So I will come back and take away my grain at harvest time

and my new wine when it is ready.

I will take back my wool and linen

that covered her nakedness.

¹⁰So I will show her nakedness to her lovers,

and no one will save her from me.

¹¹I will put an end to all her celebrations:

her yearly festivals, her New Moon festivals, and her Sabbaths.

I will stop all of her special feasts.

¹²I will destroy her vines and fig trees,

which she said were her pay from her lovers.

I will turn them into a forest,

and wild animals will eat them.

¹³I will punish her for all the times

she burned incense to the Baals.

She put on her rings and jewelry

and went chasing after her lovers,

but she forgot me!”

says the Lord.