Hosea
Chapter 2
1 Tell your brothers, ‘My People,’ and your sisters, ‘Loved One.’
2 Ask your mother to change her ways, for she is not my wife and I am not her husband. She must stop being unfaithful and not act like an adulterer anymore.
3 So I don’t leave her bare, put her back as she was when born, turn her into a desert, make her like dry land, and kill her with thirst.
4 I will not show kindness to her children because they are children of unfaithfulness.
5 Their mother has acted like a prostitute: the one who gave birth to them has behaved disgracefully. She said, “I will chase after my lovers who provide me with food, water, wool, linen, oil, and drinks.”
6 So, I will block your path with thorns and build a wall so she can’t find her way.
7 She will chase her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will think, ‘I will go back to my first husband because it was better for me then than now.’
8 She did not realize that I gave her grain, wine, and oil, and increased her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
9 So I will go back and take back my grain when it’s time and my wine when it’s due, and I will take back my wool and flax meant to cover her nakedness.
10 I will now show her bad behavior to her lovers, and no one can save her from me.
11 I will also make all her happiness stop, her holidays, her new moon celebrations, her rest days, and all her special festivals.
12 I will ruin her grapevines and fig trees, which she claimed her lovers rewarded her with; I’ll turn them into a wild area where wild animals will feed.
13 I will punish her for the times she worshiped Baal, when she burned incense to them, wore her earrings and jewelry, chased her lovers, and forgot me, says God.
14 So, I will attract her, take her to the desert, and speak kindly to her.
15 I will give her vineyards again, and the valley of Achor will be a door of hope. She will sing there like when she was young and when she left Egypt.
16 On that day, God says, you will call me ‘My Husband’ and not call me ‘My Master’ anymore.
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips, and their names will not be remembered anymore.
18 On that day, I will make a promise to them with the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the insects on the ground: I will remove the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and they will rest in safety.
19 I will promise to be yours forever; yes, I will promise to be yours with fairness, with justice, with kindness, and with compassion.
20 I will promise myself to you faithfully, and you will know God.
21 On that day, I will listen, says God, I will hear the skies, and they will hear the land.
22 The earth will receive the grain, the wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show love to those who were not loved; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’