2[HOSEA], SAY to your brethren, Ammi [or You-are-my-people], and to your sisters, Ruhamah [or You-have-been-pitied-and-have-obtained-mercy].H559H251H5971H269H7355 2Plead with your mother [your nation]; plead, for she is not My wife and I am not her Husband; [plead] that she put away her [marks of] harlotry from her face and her adulteries from between her breasts,H7378H517H7378H802H376H5493H2183H6440H5005H7699 3Lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her as a wilderness and set her like a parched land and slay her with thirst.H6584H6174H3322H3117H3205H7760H4057H7896H6723H776H4191H6772 4Yes, for her children I will have no love {nor} pity {nor} mercy, for they are the children of harlotry.H7355H1121H1121H2183 5For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has done shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my food and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my refreshing drinks.H517H2181H2029H3001H559H3212H310H157H5414H3899H4325H6785H6593H8081H8250 6Therefore, behold, I [the Lord God] will hedge up her way [even yours, O Israel] with thorns; and I will build a wall against her that she shall not find her paths.H7753H1870H5518H1443H1447H4672H5410 7And she shall follow after her lovers but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them [inquiring for and requiring them], but shall not find them. Then shall she say, Let me go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now.H7291H157H5381H1245H4672H559H3212H7725H7223H376H2896H6258 8For she has not noticed, understood, {or} realized that it was I [the Lord God] Who gave her the grain and the new wine and the fresh oil, and Who lavished upon her silver and gold which they used for Baal {and} made into his image.H3045H5414H1715H8492H3323H7235H3701H2091H6213H1168 9Therefore will I return {and} take back My grain in the time for it and My new wine in the season for it, and will pluck away {and} recover My wool and My flax which were to cover her [Israel's] nakedness.H7725H3947H1715H6256H8492H4150H5337H6785H6593H3680H6172 10And now will I uncover her lewdness {and} her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of My hand.H1540H5040H5869H157H376H5337H3027 11I will also cause to cease all her mirth, her feastmaking, her New Moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts {and} appointed festive assemblies.H4885H7673H2282H2320H7676H4150 12And I will lay waste {and} destroy her vines and her fig trees of which she has said, These are my reward {or} loose woman's hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make [her plantations] an inaccessible forest, and the wild beasts of the open country shall eat them.H8074H1612H8384H559H866H157H5414H7760H3293H2416H7704H398 13And I will visit [punishment] upon her for the feast days of the Baals, when she burned incense to them and decked herself with her earrings {and} nose rings and her jewelry and went after her lovers and forgot Me, says the Lord.H6485H3117H1168H6999H5710H5141H2484H3212H310H157H7911H5002H3068 14Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly {and} to her heart.H6601H3212H4057H1696H3820 15There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope {and} expectation. And she shall sing there {and} respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt.H5414H3754H6010H5911H6607H8615H6030H3117H5271H3117H5927H776H4714 16And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me Ishi [my Husband], and you shall no more call Me Baali [my Baal].H3117H5002H3068H7121H376H7121H1180 17For I will take away the names of Baalim [the Baals] out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned {or} seriously remembered by their name.H5493H8034H1168H6310H2142H8034 18And in that day will I make a covenant for Israel with the living creatures of the open country and with the birds of the heavens and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword and [abolish battle equipment and] conflict out of the land and will make you lie down safely.H3117H3772H1285H2416H7704H5775H8064H7431H127H7665H7198H2719H4421H776H7901H983 19And I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.H781H5769H781H6664H4941H2617H7356 20I will even betroth you to Me in stability {and} in faithfulness, and you shall know (recognize, be acquainted with, appreciate, give heed to, and cherish) the Lord.H781H530H3045H3068 21And in that day I will respond, says the Lord; I will respond to the heavens [which ask for rain to pour on the earth], and they shall respond to the earth [which begs for the rain it needs],H3117H6030H5002H3068H6030H8064H6030H776 22And the earth shall respond to the grain and the wine and the oil [which beseech it to bring them forth], and these shall respond to Jezreel [restored Israel, who prays for a supply of them].H776H6030H1715H8492H3323H6030H3157 23And I will sow her for Myself anew in the land, and I will have love, pity, {and} mercy for her who had not obtained love, pity, {and} mercy; and I will say to those who were not My people, You are My people, and they shall say, You are my God!H2232H776H7355H7355H3818H559H5971H5971H559H430
