Hosea 2:5–13

⁵Their mother is a shameless prostitute

and became pregnant in a shameful way.

She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers

and sell myself to them for food and water,

for clothing of wool and linen,

and for olive oil and drinks.’

⁶“For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.

I will block her path with a wall

to make her lose her way.

⁷When she runs after her lovers,

she won’t be able to catch them.

She will search for them

but not find them.

Then she will think,

‘I might as well return to my husband,

for I was better off with him than I am now.’

⁸She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has—

the grain, the new wine, the olive oil;

I even gave her silver and gold.

But she gave all my gifts to Baal.

⁹“But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine

I generously provided each harvest season.

I will take away the wool and linen clothing

I gave her to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰I will strip her naked in public,

while all her lovers look on.

No one will be able

to rescue her from my hands.

¹¹I will put an end to her annual festivals,

her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days—

all her appointed festivals.

¹²I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees,

things she claims her lovers gave her.

I will let them grow into tangled thickets,

where only wild animals will eat the fruit.

¹³I will punish her for all those times

when she burned incense to her images of Baal,

when she put on her earrings and jewels

and went out to look for her lovers

but forgot all about me,”

says the Lord.