OET-RV HOS Chapter 2

2 Contend with your mother, contend, because she’s not my wife,

and nor am I her husband.

Let her turn her face away from prostitution,

and cease her adultery from between her breasts.

3 If she doesn’t, I’ll strip her naked

≈and expose her like on the day she was born.

I will make her like the wilderness,

≈and make her like a sun-baked land,

→and I’ll make her die from thirst.

4 I won’t have mercy on her children,

→because they’re the products of prostitution,

5 because their mother has dabbled in prostitution—

≈the woman who conceived them has acted shamefully.

Yes, she had said, “I’ll go after my lovers,

who give me my bread and my water,

≈my wool and my flax,

≈and my oil and my drink.”

6 Therefore, I’ll fence her paths in with thorns.

I’ll build a wall up against her so she can’t find her way.

7 She’ll try to pursue her lovers, but she won’t be able to catch up to them.

≈She’ll search for them, but she won’t be able to find them.

Then she’ll say, “I’ll go and return to my first husband,

→because it was better for me then than it is now.”

8 No, she hadn’t known that it was me who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil,

≈and who lavished gold and silver on her,

→which they then used for Baal.

9 Therefore I’ll take my grain back in its time,

≈and my new wine in its season.

I’ll take away my wool and my flax

→that were used to cover her nakedness.

10 Now I’ll uncover her lewdness as her lovers watch,

but no one can rescue her from my punishment.

11 I’ll also put an end to all her mirth,

her feasts, her new-moon celebrations, her rest days, and all her scheduled festivals.

12 “I’ll destroy her grapevines and her fig trees,

of which she said, ‘Those are my wages that my lovers gave me.’

I’ll make them grow wild,

→and then the animals in the countryside will devour them.

13 I’ll punish her for the feast days for the Baals,

when she burnt incense to them.

When she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers and forgot me.”

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

14 Therefore, listen, I’m going to entice her.

≈I’ll bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

15 I’ll give her back her vineyards,

and the depressing Akor Valley[ref] as a gateway for hope.

She’ll answer me there as in the days of her youth—

like at the time that she came out of Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim):

16 “Yahweh declares you’ll call me, ‘My husband,’ at the time

^and no longer call me, ‘My master (Heb. Baal),’

17 because I’ll remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,

and they’ll no longer be remembered by their names.”

18 “On that day I’ll make an agreement for them

with the animals in the fields,

with the birds in the sky,

and with the crawling things on the ground.

I’ll abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land,

and I’ll make you lie down in safety.

19 I’ll take you as my wife forever.

I’ll marry you to me in righteousness and justice,

in loyal commitment, and in mercy.

20 I’ll be faithful to you as my wife,

and you’ll know Yahweh.

21 This is Yahweh’s declaration:

At that time I’ll answer the skies with rain,

and they’ll answer the earth.

22 The earth will answer the grain, the new wine and the oil,

and they’ll answer Yizre’el (which means ‘God sows/plants’).

23 I will sow her for myself in the land,

and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah (‘No mercy’).

I will tell Lo-Ammi (‘Not my people’),

‘You are my people,’

and they’ll say, ‘You’re our God.’ ”[ref]