Hosea 2:14-3:5

New King James Version

God’s Mercy on His People

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak ^[a]comfort to her.
¹⁵I will give her her vineyards from there,
And ^(A)the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in ^(B)the days of her youth,
^(C)As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶“And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ^[b]‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ^[c]‘My Master,’
¹⁷For ^(D)I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
¹⁸In that day I will make a ^(E)covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle ^(F)I will shatter from the earth,
To make them ^(G)lie down safely.

¹⁹“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And ^(H)you shall know the Lord.

²¹“It shall come to pass in that day
That ^(I)I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
²²The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer ^[d]Jezreel.
²³Then ^(J)I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
^(K)And I will have mercy on her who had ^[e]not obtained mercy;
Then ^(L)I will say to those who were ^[f]not My people,
‘You are ^[g]My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

Israel Will Return to God

3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a ^(M)lover^[h] and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”

²So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. ³And I said to her, “You shall ^(N)stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”

⁴For the children of Israel shall abide many days ^(O)without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ^(P)ephod or ^(Q)teraphim. ⁵Afterward the children of Israel shall return and ^(R)seek the Lord their God and ^(S)David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the ^(T)latter days.