2 1 [a]So call your brothers ‘Ammi,’[b] and your sisters ‘Ruhamah.’”[c]
Gomer is Rebuked
2 “Call your mother to account, call her—
for she is not my wife,
and I’m not her husband.
Let her do away with her seductive looks
and remove her adultery from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I’ll strip her naked—
as she was on the day she was born—
make her like a wilderness,
turn her into a parched land,
and cause her to die of thirst.
4 Furthermore, I’ll not show pity on her children,
since they are children of prostitution.
5 Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution—
the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully—
when she said,
‘I’m going after my lovers,
who provide me food and water,
as well as my wool, my flax,
my oil, and my wine.’
6 “Look how I’m blocking her[d] path with thorns
and building a wall to hinder[e] her,
so she can’t find her way.
7 She will pursue her lovers,
but she won’t catch up with them.
She will seek them,
but she won’t find them.
Then she will say,
‘I’ll go back and return to my first husband,
because it was better for me then than now.’
8 She didn’t recognize
that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil,
and it was I who gave her silver,
while they crafted gold for Baal.
9 “Therefore I’ll return
and take back my grain at harvest time
and my new wine in its season.
I’ll take back my wool and my flax
that was to have covered her nakedness.
10 So now I’ll reveal her lewdness to the eyes of her lovers,
and no man will rescue her from my control.[f]
11 I’ll put a stop to her mirth,
along with her celebrations, her New Moons, her Sabbaths,[g] and all of her festive assemblies.
12 I’ll destroy her vines and her fig trees,
about which she said,
‘These are the earnings that my lovers paid me.
I’ll make them grow into a forest,
and the wild animals will eat from them.’
13 I’ll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals,[h]
to whom she burned incense,
and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels
so she could go after her lovers and forget me,”
declares the Lord.
Alluring a Wayward Wife
14 “Therefore, look! I will now allure her.
I will make her go out to the wilderness,
and will speak to her heart.
15 There I will restore her vineyards to her,
and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope.
There she will respond as she did in her youth,
when she came up from Egypt.”
The Restoration of Israel
16 “It will come about at that time,”
declares the Lord,
“that you will address me as ‘My husband,’
and you will no longer call me ‘My master’.[i]
17 I will remove the names of the Baals[j] from her vocabulary[k]—
they will not be remembered by their names anymore.
18 I will make a covenant with them at that time,
a covenant[l] with the wild animals of the field,
with the birds of the air,
and with the creatures of the ground.
I will banish[m] the battle bow, the sword, and war from the earth.
I will cause my people[n] to lie down where it is safe.
19 I will make you my wife forever—
I will make you my wife in a way that is righteous,
in a manner that is just,
by a love that is gracious,
and by a motive that is mercy.
20 I will make you my wife because of my[o] faithfulness,
and you will know the Lord.
21 “It will come about at that time that I will respond,”
declares the Lord,
“I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond with grain, new wine, and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[p]
23 I will plant my people[q] in the land for myself.
I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy[r]
I will say to those who are not my people,[s] ‘You are my people!’
and they will say, ‘You are[t] my God.’”
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:1 This vs. is 2:3 in MT, and so throughout the chapter.
- Hosea 2:1 Lit. My People
- Hosea 2:1 Lit. Beloved; i.e. in contrast to the names Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi in vv. 6-9
- Hosea 2:6 So with LXX. MT reads your
- Hosea 2:6 Lit. wall against
- Hosea 2:10 Lit. hand
- Hosea 2:11 So with LXX. MT reads Sabbath
- Hosea 2:13 Lit. for the days of the Baalim; i.e. Canaanite deities
- Hosea 2:16 Heb. baali, a word play alluding to the Canaanite deity of a similar name
- Hosea 2:17 I.e. Canaanite deities
- Hosea 2:17 Lit. mouth
- Hosea 2:18 The Heb. lacks a covenant
- Hosea 2:18 Lit. break
- Hosea 2:18 Lit. cause them
- Hosea 2:20 Lit. wife in
- Hosea 2:22 The Heb. name Jezreel means God sows
- Hosea 2:23 Lit. planted her
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. on Lo-Ruhamah
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. to Lo-Ammi
- Hosea 2:23 The Heb. lacks You are