Hosea 2:21-3:5

New King James Version

²¹“It shall come to pass in that day
That ^(A)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 ^[a]Jezreel.
²³Then ^(B)I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
^(C)And I will have mercy on her who had ^[b]not obtained mercy;
Then ^(D)I will say to those who were ^[c]not My people,
‘You are ^[d]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 ^(E)lover^[e] 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 ^(F)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 ^(G)without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ^(H)ephod or ^(I)teraphim. ⁵Afterward the children of Israel shall return and ^(J)seek the Lord their God and ^(K)David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the ^(L)latter days.