Hosea 2
Authorized (King James) Version
2 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
2 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;
3 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.
4 And I will not have mercy upon her children;
for they be the children of whoredoms.
5 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.
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns,
and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
Hosea 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 [a]Say to your brothers, “Ammi,”[b] and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”[c]
Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption
2 Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her prostitution from her face
and her adultery from between her breasts,(A)
3 or I will strip her naked
and expose her as in the day she was born
and make her like a wilderness
and turn her into a parched land
and kill her with thirst.(B)
4 Upon her children also I will have no pity,
because they are children of prostitution.(C)
5 For their mother has prostituted herself;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will go after my lovers;
they give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”(D)
6 Therefore I will hedge up her[d] way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her
so that she cannot find her paths.(E)
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, “I will go
and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now.”(F)
8 She did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil
and who lavished upon her silver
and gold that they used for Baal.(G)
9 Therefore I will take back
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 Now I will uncover her shame
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.(H)
11 I will put an end to all her mirth,
her festivals, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
and all her appointed festivals.(I)
12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said,
“These are my pay,
which my lovers have given me.”
I will make them a forest,
and the wild animals shall devour them.(J)
13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals,
to whom she offered incense
and decked herself with her rings and jewelry
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, says the Lord.(K)
14 Therefore, I will now allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.(L)
15 From there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.(M)
16 On that day, says the Lord, you will call me “my husband,” and no longer will you call me “my Baal.”[e] 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.(N) 18 I will make for you[f] a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish[g] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you[h] lie down in safety.(O) 19 And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.(P) 20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.(Q)
21 On that day I will answer, says the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,[i](R)
23 and I will sow him[j] for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,[k]
and I will say to Lo-ammi,[l] “You are my people,”
and he shall say, “You are my God.”(S)
Hosea 2
New Living Translation
2 [a]“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’
Charges against an Unfaithful Wife
2 “But now bring charges against Israel—your mother—
for she is no longer my wife,
and I am no longer her husband.
Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face
and the clothing that exposes her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her as naked
as she was on the day she was born.
I will leave her to die of thirst,
as in a dry and barren wilderness.
4 And I will not love her children,
for they were conceived in prostitution.
5 Their mother is a shameless prostitute
and became pregnant in a shameful way.
She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers
and sell myself to them for food and water,
for clothing of wool and linen,
and for olive oil and drinks.’
6 “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.
I will block her path with a wall
to make her lose her way.
7 When she runs after her lovers,
she won’t be able to catch them.
She will search for them
but not find them.
Then she will think,
‘I might as well return to my husband,
for I was better off with him than I am now.’
8 She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has—
the grain, the new wine, the olive oil;
I even gave her silver and gold.
But she gave all my gifts to Baal.
9 “But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine
I generously provided each harvest season.
I will take away the wool and linen clothing
I gave her to cover her nakedness.
10 I will strip her naked in public,
while all her lovers look on.
No one will be able
to rescue her from my hands.
11 I will put an end to her annual festivals,
her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days—
all her appointed festivals.
12 I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees,
things she claims her lovers gave her.
I will let them grow into tangled thickets,
where only wild animals will eat the fruit.
13 I will punish her for all those times
when she burned incense to her images of Baal,
when she put on her earrings and jewels
and went out to look for her lovers
but forgot all about me,”
says the Lord.
The Lord’s Love for Unfaithful Israel
14 “But then I will win her back once again.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her there.
15 I will return her vineyards to her
and transform the Valley of Trouble[b] into a gateway of hope.
She will give herself to me there,
as she did long ago when she was young,
when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
16 When that day comes,” says the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’
instead of ‘my master.’[c]
17 O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips,
and you will never mention them again.
18 On that day I will make a covenant
with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky
and the animals that scurry along the ground
so they will not harm you.
I will remove all weapons of war from the land,
all swords and bows,
so you can live unafraid
in peace and safety.
19 I will make you my wife forever,
showing you righteousness and justice,
unfailing love and compassion.
20 I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
and you will finally know me as the Lord.
21 “In that day, I will answer,”
says the Lord.
“I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds.
And the sky will answer the earth with rain.
22 Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries
of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees.
And they in turn will answer,
‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’
23 At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites
and raise them for myself.
I will show love
to those I called ‘Not loved.’[d]
And to those I called ‘Not my people,’[e]
I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’
And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
