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

16 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘you will call me “my husband”;
    you will no longer call me “my master”.[c]
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
    no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
    with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
    I will abolish from the land,
    so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me for ever;
    I will betroth you in[d] righteousness and justice,
    in[e] love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in[f] faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge the Lord.

21 ‘In that day I will respond,’
    declares the Lord –
‘I will respond to the skies,
    and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
    the new wine and the olive oil,
    and they will respond to Jezreel.[g]
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called “Not my loved one”.[h]
I will say to those called “Not my people”,[i] “You are my people”;
    and they will say, “You are my God.”’

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble.
  2. Hosea 2:15 Or sing
  3. Hosea 2:16 Hebrew baal
  4. Hosea 2:19 Or with
  5. Hosea 2:19 Or with
  6. Hosea 2:20 Or with
  7. Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
  8. Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)
  9. Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)