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The Unfaithful Wife

Say to your brother,[a] “Ammi,”[b]
and to your sister,[c] “Ruhamah.”[d]
Plead with your mother, plead—
    because she is not my wife,
        and I am not her husband.
Let her put away her whoring from before her,[e]
    and her adultery from between her breasts.
Lest I strip her naked
    and expose her like the day when she was born;
I will make her like the desert
    and turn her into parched land;
        I will kill her with thirst.
And I will not have pity on her children,
    because they are children of whoredom.
        Because their mother was unfaithful;[f]
she who conceived them has acted shamefully,
    for she said:
        “I will go after my lovers,
the ones who give me my bread, my water,
    my wool, and my flax,
        my oil, and my drink.”
Therefore, Look!
    I am going to hedge her path[g] with thorns,[h]
        and I will build a stone wall, a stone wall against her,
    and she will not find her paths.
Then she will pursue her lovers,[i]
    but she will not overtake them;
        she will seek them and not find them;
and she will say, “I will go
    and return to my first husband
    because it was better for me then than now.”
But she did not know
    that it was I who gave her
        grain, new wine, and oil,
and who gave her silver in abundance,
    and gold which they made into a Baal.
Therefore I will take again
    my grain in its time,
        and my wine in its season;
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
    which were to cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will uncover her nakedness
    before the eyes of her lovers,
        and no one will rescue her from my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
    her festivals,[j] her new moons,[k] and her Sabbaths,[l]
        and all her appointed festivals;[m]
12 and I will lay waste to her vines[n] and her fig trees,[o]
    of which she said,
        “They are my payment for prostitution,
    which my lovers gave to me.”
I will make them a forest,
    and the wild animals[p] of the field will devour them.
13 I will punish her[q] for the days of the Baals,
    to whom she burns incense,
and she decked herself with her ornamental ring and jewelry,
    and she went after her lovers, and forgot me
        —a declaration of Yahweh.
14 Therefore, Look! I am going to allure her
    and bring her into the desert,
        and I will speak tenderly to her.[r]
15 From there I will give her
    her vineyards,
        and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope.
And there she will respond,
    as in the days of her youth,
    just as in the day of her coming out of
        the land of Egypt.
16 And on that day[s]
    a declaration of Yahweh—
        you will call me, “My husband;”[t]
        you will no longer call me, “My Baal.”[u]
17 I will remove the names
    of the Baals from her mouth,
        and they will no longer be mentioned by their name.
18 I will make a covenant for them on that day,
    with the animals[v] of the field,
    with the birds[w] of the heaven, and
    with the creeping things[x] of the ground;
        the bow, the sword, and the war I will abolish from the land, and I will let them lie down in safety.
19 And I will take you as my wife forever;
    I will take you as a wife for myself in righteousness and in justice,
        in steadfast love and in mercy.
20 I will take you as my wife[y] in faithfulness,
    and you will know Yahweh.
21 On that day I will answer, declares Yahweh,[z]
    I will answer the heavens,
        and they will answer the earth.
22 And the earth will answer
    the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they will answer Jezreel.[aa]
23     I will sow her for myself in the land;
        I will have pity on Lo-ruhama;[ab]
    I will say to Lo-ammi,[ac]
        “You are my people,”
    and he himself will say, “you are my God.”

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 2:1 Hebrew “brothers”
  2. Hosea 2:1 Ammi means “My people”
  3. Hosea 2:1 Hebrew “sisters”
  4. Hosea 2:1 Ruhamah means “Pitied”
  5. Hosea 2:2 Literally “from her face”
  6. Hosea 2:5 Or “their mother played the whore”
  7. Hosea 2:6 Hebrew “your path”
  8. Hosea 2:6 Literally “with the thorns”
  9. Hosea 2:7 Literally “the ones who love her”
  10. Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “festival”
  11. Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “new moon”
  12. Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “Sabbath”
  13. Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “festival”
  14. Hosea 2:12 Hebrew “vine”
  15. Hosea 2:12 Hebrew “fig tree”
  16. Hosea 2:12 Hebrew “animal”
  17. Hosea 2:13 Literally “To visit sins upon her;” see 1:4
  18. Hosea 2:14 Literally “I will speak to her heart”
  19. Hosea 2:16 Literally, “And it will happen on that day”
  20. Hosea 2:16 Hebrew “Ishi”
  21. Hosea 2:16 Hebrew “Baali”
  22. Hosea 2:18 Hebrew “animal”
  23. Hosea 2:18 Hebrew “bird”
  24. Hosea 2:18 Hebrew “creeping thing”
  25. Hosea 2:20 Literally “I will take you as a wife to me”
  26. Hosea 2:21 Literally “a declaration of Yahweh
  27. Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means “God sows”
  28. Hosea 2:23 Lo-ruhama means “Not pitied”
  29. Hosea 2:23 Lo-ammi means “Not my people”

Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

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

And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.

For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.

14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

16 And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.