Hosea 2

{God also said}, “At that time, you will say to your fellow Israelite men, ‘Ammi, you are God’s people,’ and {you will say} to your fellow Israelite women, ‘Ruhamah, you are ones whom God loves.’” \* 2 Children, dispute earnestly with your mother, because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to stop her sexually immoral behavior and to stop being unfaithful to me. 3 Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as on the day she was born. I will make her as bare as a wilderness. I will cause her to become as dry as a desert, and I will let her die of thirst. \* 4 I will not pity her children, because they are as unfaithful as their prostitute mother. 5 I say this because she has been unfaithful to me and has acted shamefully. Indeed, she said, “I will run to the ones who love me; they are the ones who give me my food and water, my wool and linen, my olive oil and my {wine to} drink.” \* 6 So {I am about to do things that will be as though} I am blocking her road with thorn-bushes and building a wall in her way so that she does not know what to do. 7 She will repeatedly seek the ones that {she thinks} love her, but she will not find them. Then she will think, “Perhaps I should return to my actual husband, because I was better off then than I am now.” \* 8 None of them understand that I, {God,} am the one who gave them their grain, wine, and olive oil; I am the one who gave them abundant silver and gold, which they used to make images for Baal. 9 Therefore, I will come back and take my grain from them when it is ripe and the juice of my grapes in their season. I will take from them the wool and linen that I gave to them to cover their bodies. \* 10 Now I will expose how shameful they have been in front of those {gods} that they think love them. No one will be able to rescue them when I punish them. 11 I will stop all of their celebrations: their yearly feasts, their new moon festivals, their Sabbath days, and all of their {other} regular festivals. \* 12 I will destroy all their grapevines and fig trees, which they said were payments to them from those {gods} who loved them. I will turn those productive plants into a wild thicket, and wild animals will eat the fruit {that remains}. 13 I will punish them for all the times that they burned incense to honor the various Baals. They decorated themselves with rings and other jewelry and went to worship those {false gods} that they thought loved them, but they forgot about me! —this is what God declares. \* 14 However, listen! I am working to persuade my people to worship me again; I will make them experience {what their ancestors did in} the wilderness and I will speak tenderly to them. 15 I will give their vineyards back to them from that {starting} point, and I will cause the Valley of Achor{, instead of a place of trouble,} to become a place where they will confidently expect {me to do} good things {for them}. They will respond to me there {willingly} as they did long ago, when I freed them from {being slaves in} Egypt. \* 16 At that time—this is what God declares—they will call me ‘My Husband.’ They will not call me ‘My Baal’ anymore. 17 I will not allow them to speak the names of the Baals, and they will never use those names again. \* 18 At that time I will make an agreement for them with the wild animals, the birds, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will also remove weapons of war such as bows and swords from the land. The result will be that my people will be able to live safely and peacefully. \* 19 They will belong to me forever as {though we are} married. I will do what is right and fair toward them, and I will faithfully love them and act mercifully toward them. 20 I will be faithful to them, and they will truly know me, God. \* 21 At that time, {when they ask for what they need}, I will respond—this is what God declares— I will tell the heavens to send rain, and on their part, the heavens will water the earth. 22 Then the earth will produce grain, new wine, and olive oil, and those things will provide for {my people,} Jezreel. \* 23 I will establish them in the land as my own. I will pity Lo Ruhama, and I will say to {those whom I called} Lo Ammi, “You are my people,” and they, yes, they will say {to me}, “You are our God.” \*