Hosea 2

The case against the mother

1Call your brothers “My People,”
and your sisters “Shown Compassion.” 2“Bring a case against your mother—bring a case!
She is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the prostitution from her face
and the adultery from between her breasts. 3Otherwise I will strip her naked
and leave her as she was on the day she was born.
I will make her like a wilderness,
turn her into parched land,
and kill her with thirst. 4I will show no compassion to her children,
because they are children of prostitution. 5Their mother has prostituted herself;
the woman who conceived them has acted shamefully.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and water,
my wool and flax, my oil and drink.’ 6So now I will block your road with thorns.
I will wall her in
so she cannot find her paths. 7She will pursue her lovers but will not catch them;
she will seek them but will not find them.
Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband,
because I was better off then than I am now.’ 8She did not know that I was the one
who gave her grain, new wine, and oil.
I lavished silver on her,
and gold that they used for Baal. 9So I will take back my grain when it ripens
and my new wine in its season.
I will reclaim my wool and flax,
which were to cover her nakedness. 10Now I will expose her shame
in full view of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from my hand. 11I will put an end to all her rejoicing—
her festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths,
and all her appointed celebrations. 12I will devastate her vines and fig trees,
which she called ‘my wages, given by my lovers.’
I will turn them into a thicket,
and wild animals will eat them. 13I will call her to account for the days
when she burned offerings to the Baals,
adorned herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers.
But me she forgot,” declares the LORD.

The promise of restoration

14“So now I will entice her,
lead her into the wilderness,
and speak to her heart. 15There I will give her back her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a doorway of hope.
There she will respond as in her youth,
as on the day she came up from Egypt. 16On that day,” declares the LORD,
“you will call me ‘My Husband’
and no longer call me ‘My Baal.’ 17I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth;
their names will no longer be spoken. 18On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that move along the ground.
I will break bow, sword, and war from the land
and let them lie down in safety. 19I will pledge myself to you in marriage forever.
I will pledge myself to you
in righteousness and justice,
in faithful love and compassion. 20I will pledge myself to you in faithfulness,
and you will know the LORD. 21On that day I will answer,” declares the LORD.
“I will answer the skies,
and they will answer the earth. 22The earth will answer the grain, new wine, and oil,
and they will answer Jezreel. 23I will sow her for myself in the land.
I will show compassion to Lo-ruhamah.
To Lo-ammi I will say, ‘You are my people,’
and he will say, ‘My God.’”