The Prophet Hosea

⭑ Literal Standard Version :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 2 -

“Say to your brothers—Ammi, || And to your sisters—Ruhamah.

Plead with your mother—plead || (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband), || And she turns her whoredoms from before her, || And her adulteries from between her breasts,

Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as [in] the day of her birth, || And have made her as a wilderness, || And have set her as a dry land, || And have put her to death with thirst.

And her sons I do not pity, || For they [are] sons of whoredoms,

For their mother has gone whoring, || Their conceiver has acted shamefully, || For she has said, I go after my lovers, || Those giving my bread and my water, || My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

Therefore, behold, I am hedging up your way with thorns, || And I have made a wall for her, || And her paths she does not find.

And she has pursued her lovers, || And she does not overtake them, || And has sought them, and does not find [them], || And she has said: I go, and I return to my first husband, || For—better to me then than now.

And she did not know that I had given to her || The grain, and the new wine, and the oil. Indeed, I multiplied silver to her, || And the gold they prepared for Ba‘al.

Therefore I return, || And I have taken My grain in its season, || And My new wine in its appointed time, || And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness.

And now I reveal her dishonor before the eyes of her lovers, || And none deliver her out of My hand.

And I have caused all her joy to cease, || Her festival, her new moon, and her Sabbath, || Even all her appointed times,

And made desolate her vine and her fig tree, || Of which she said, They [are] a wage to me, || That my lovers have given to me, || And I have made them for a forest, || And a beast of the field has consumed them.

And I have charged on her the days of the Ba‘alim, || To whom she makes incense, || And puts on her ring and her ornament, || And goes after her lovers, || And forgot Me,” a declaration of YHWH.

God’s Mercy to Israel

“Therefore, behold, I am enticing her, || And have caused her to go to the wilderness, || And I have spoken to her heart,

And given to her her vineyards from there, || And the Valley of Achor for an opening of hope, || And she has responded there as in the days of her youth, || And as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

And it has come to pass in that day,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “You call Me: My husband, || And do not call Me anymore: My lord.

And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, || And they are not remembered anymore by their name.

And I have made a covenant for them in that day, || With the beast of the field, || And with the bird of the heavens, || And the creeping thing of the ground, || And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, || And have caused them to lie down confidently.

And I have betrothed you to Me for all time, || And betrothed you to Me in righteousness, || And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

And betrothed you to Me in faithfulness, || And you have known YHWH.

And it has come to pass in that day, I answer,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth.

And the earth answers the grain, || And the new wine, and the oil, || And they answer Jezreel.

And I have sowed her to Me in the land, || And I have pitied Lo-Ruhamah, || And I have said to Lo-Ammi, You [are] My people, || And he says, My God!”

“Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’(a) and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’(b)

Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy, for they are children of unfaithfulness.

For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Therefore behold,(c) I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.

She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’

For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field shall eat them.

I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says the LORD.

God’s Mercy to Israel

“Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

It will be in that day,” says the LORD, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’

For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.

It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;

and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.

I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My God!’”

Footnotes

(a)2:1 ‘Ammi’ in Hebrew

(b)2:1 ‘Ruhamah’ in Hebrew

(c)2:6 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.