Hosea 2:2-16

New International Version

Israel Punished and Restored

²“Rebuke your mother,^(A) rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous^(B) look from her face
    and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
³Otherwise I will strip^(C) her naked
    and make her as bare as on the day she was born;^(D)
I will make her like a desert,^(E)
    turn her into a parched land,
    and slay her with thirst.
⁴I will not show my love to her children,^(F)
    because they are the children of adultery.^(G)
⁵Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,^(H)
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’^(I)
⁶Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.^(J)
⁷She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.^(K)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband^(L) as at first,^(M)
    for then I was better off^(N) than now.’
⁸She has not acknowledged^(O) that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,^(P)
who lavished on her the silver and gold^(Q)—
    which they used for Baal.^(R)

⁹“Therefore I will take away my grain^(S) when it ripens,
    and my new wine^(T) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
¹⁰So now I will expose^(U) her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;^(V)
    no one will take her out of my hands.^(W)
¹¹I will stop^(X) all her celebrations:^(Y)
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.^(Z)
¹²I will ruin her vines^(AA) and her fig trees,^(AB)
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;^(AC)
I will make them a thicket,^(AD)
    and wild animals will devour them.^(AE)
¹³I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense^(AF) to the Baals;^(AG)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,^(AH)
    and went after her lovers,^(AI)
    but me she forgot,^(AJ)”
declares the Lord.^(AK)

¹⁴“Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness^(AL)
    and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor^[a]^(AM) a door of hope.
There she will respond^[b]^(AN) as in the days of her youth,^(AO)
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.^(AP)