2 “You are to call your brothers, ‘my people [L Ammi; 1:9],’ and your sisters, ‘you have been shown pity [L Ruhama; 1:6–8].’
God Speaks About Israel
2 “·Plead with [or Rebuke; or Accuse; Bring charges against] your mother [C the nation Israel].
·Plead with [or Rebuke; or Accuse; Bring charges against] her, because she is ·no longer [L not] my wife,
and I am ·no longer [L not] her husband.
Tell her to ·stop acting like a prostitute [or take off her prostitute’s make-up; L set aside her harlotries from her presence/face],
·to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife [L and set aside unfaithfulness from between her breasts].
3 If she refuses, I will strip her naked
and ·leave her bare [expose her] like the day she was born.
I will make her dry like a desert,
like a ·land without water [parched land],
and I will kill her with thirst.
4 I will not ·take pity [have mercy/compassion] on her children,
because they are the children of ·a prostitute [or adultery; harlotry].
5 Their mother has ·acted like a prostitute [been unfaithful; committed adultery];
the one who ·became pregnant with [conceived] them has acted ·disgracefully [shamefully].
She said, ‘I will ·chase [seek; go] after my lovers [C the idol-worshiping nations around Israel],
who give me my ·food [bread] and water,
wool and flax, ·wine [L drinks] and olive oil.’
6 So I will ·block her road [or fence/hedge her in] with thornbushes;
I will ·build a wall around her [wall her in]
so she cannot find her way.
7 She will ·run after [pursue] 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 [C God],
because life was better then for me than it is now.’
8 But she does not ·know [acknowledge] that I was the one
who gave her grain, new wine, and oil.
I ·gave her much [lavished on her] silver and gold,
but ·she [L they; C the nation] used it for Baal.
9 “So I will come back and take away my grain ·at harvest time [L in its time]
and my new wine ·when it is ready [L in its season/appointed time].
I will take back my wool and ·linen [flax]
that covered her nakedness.
10 So I will ·show her nakedness [uncover her lewdness/shamelessness] to her lovers,
and no one will ·save [rescue] her from ·me [L my hand].
11 I will put an end to all her ·celebrations [merrymaking]:
her yearly festivals, her New Moon festivals, and her Sabbaths.
I will stop all of her ·special [appointed] feasts.
12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers.
I will turn them into a ·forest [overgrown thicket],
and ·wild animals [beasts of the field] will eat them.
13 I will punish her for all the ·times [days; C pagan feast days]
she burned incense to the Baals [C the local gods of the Canaanites worshiped by the Israelites].
She ·put on her [adorned herself with] ·rings [or earrings] and jewelry
and went ·chasing after [out to] her lovers,
but she forgot me!”
says the Lord.
14 “So I am going to ·attract [allure; woo] her;
I will lead her into the ·desert [wilderness; C as in the Exodus, when God rescued Israel from slavery and cared for her; Ex. 12–17]
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and I will make the Valley of ·Trouble [L Achor; C see Josh. 7:1–26] a door of hope.
There she will ·respond [or sing] as ·when she was young [L in the days of her youth],
as when she came out of Egypt.”
16 The Lord says, “In the future she[a] will call me ‘my husband’;
no longer will she[b] call me ‘my baal [C “baal” can mean “husband,” “master,” or “Baal” (the Canaanite god); in this wordplay, Israel has replaced one husband (the Lord) with another (Baal)].’
17 I will ·never let her say [remove from her lips] the names of Baal again;
people won’t ·use [utter; invoke; or remember] their names anymore.
18 At that time I will make an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] for them
with the ·wild animals [L beasts of the field], the ·birds [L birds of the sky/heavens], and the ·crawling things [T creeping things of the ground].
I will ·smash [shatter; abolish] from the land
the bow and the sword and ·the weapons of war [or war; battle],
so my people will ·live [L lie down] in safety.
19 And I will ·make you my promised bride [L betroth you to me] forever.
I will ·be good and fair [L betroth you in righteousness and justice];
I will show you my ·love [loyalty; unfailing love; lovingkindness] and mercy.
20 I will ·be true to you as my promised bride [L betroth you in faithfulness],
and you will ·know [or acknowledge me as] the Lord.
21 “At that time I will ·speak to you [answer; respond],” says the Lord.
“I will ·speak to [answer; respond to] the ·skies [or heavens],
and they will ·give rain to [L answer; respond to] the earth.
22 The earth will ·produce [L answer/respond with] grain, new wine, and oil;
·much will grow because my people are called [L and they will answer/respond to] Jezreel [C “God plants”; 1:4, 11].
23 I will plant ·my people [L her for myself] in the land,
and I will show pity to the one I had called ‘·not shown pity [L Lo-Ruhamah; 1:6–7].’
I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those I had called ‘·not my people [L Lo-Ammi; 1:9].’
And they will say to me, ‘You are our God.’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:16 she Greek, Aramaic and Latin copies read “she.” Hebrew copies read “you.”
- Hosea 2:16 she Greek, Aramaic and Latin copies read “she.” Hebrew copies read “you.”