Hosea 2
2
1“You are to call your brothers, ‘my people,’ and your sisters, ‘you have been shown pity.’
God Speaks About Israel
2“Plead with your mother.
Accuse her, because she is no longer my wife,
and I am no longer her husband.
Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute,
to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.
3If she refuses, I will strip her naked
and leave her bare like the day she was born.
I will make her dry like a desert,
like a land without water,
and I will kill her with thirst.
4I will not take pity on her children,
because they are the children of a prostitute.
5Their mother has acted like a prostitute;
the one who became pregnant with them has acted disgracefully.
She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers,
who give me my food and water,
wool and flax, wine and olive oil.’
6So I will block her road with thornbushes;
I will build a wall around her
so she cannot find her way.
7She will run after her lovers,
but she won’t catch them.
She will look for them,
but she won’t find them.
Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband,
because life was better then for me than it is now.’
8But she does not know that I was the one
who gave her grain, new wine, and oil.
I gave her much silver and gold,
but she used it for Baal.
9“So I will come back and take away my grain at harvest time
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and linen
that covered her nakedness.
10So I will show her nakedness to her lovers,
and no one will save her from me.
11I will put an end to all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moon festivals, and her Sabbaths.
I will stop all of her special feasts.
12I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers.
I will turn them into a forest,
and wild animals will eat them.
13I will punish her for all the times
she burned incense to the Baals.
She put on her rings and jewelry
and went chasing after her lovers,
but she forgot me!”
says the Lord.
14“So I am going to attract her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
15There I will give her back her vineyards,
and I will make the Valley of Trouble a door of hope.
There she will respond as when she was young,
as when she came out of Egypt.”
16The Lord says, “In the future she will call me ‘my husband;’
no longer will she call me ‘my baal.’
17I will never let her say the names of Baal again;
people won’t use their names anymore.
18At that time I will make an agreement for them
with the wild animals, the birds, and the crawling things.
I will smash from the land
the bow and the sword and the weapons of war,
so my people will live in safety.
19And I will make you my promised bride forever.
I will be good and fair;
I will show you my love and mercy.
20I will be true to you as my promised bride,
and you will know the Lord.
21“At that time I will speak to you,” says the Lord.
“I will speak to the skies,
and they will give rain to the earth.
22The earth will produce grain, new wine, and oil;
much will grow because my people are called Jezreel.
23I will plant my people in the land,
and I will show pity to the one I had called ‘not shown pity.’
I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those I had called ‘not my people.’
And they will say to me, ‘You are our God.’ ”
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Hosea 2: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Hosea 2
2
1Call # Lit Say to your brothers: My People
and your sisters: Compassion.
Israel’s Adultery Rebuked
2Rebuke your mother; rebuke her. # Ezk 23:45
For she is not My wife and I am not her husband. # Is 50:1
Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face # Jr 3:1,9,13
and her adultery from between her breasts.
3Otherwise, I will strip her naked # Ezk 16:7,22,39
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert # Is 32:13-14; Hs 13:15
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst. # Jr 14:3; Am 8:11-13
4I will have no compassion on her children # Jr 13:14
because they are the children of promiscuity.
5Yes, their mother is promiscuous;
she conceived them and acted shamefully. # Is 1:21; Hs 3:1
For she thought, “I will go after my lovers, # Jr 2:25
the men who give me my food and water,
my wool and flax, my oil and drink.” # Jr 44:17-18
6Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her # LXX, Syr; MT reads your way # Jb 19:8 with thorns; # Hs 9:6; 10:8
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths. # Jr 18:15
7She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; # Hs 5:13
she will seek them but not find them.
Then she will think,
“I will go back to my former husband, # Jr 2:2; 3:1; Ezk 16:8; 23:4
for then it was better for me than now.” # Jr 14:22; Hs 13:6
8She does not recognize # Is 1:3
that it is I who gave her the grain, # Ezk 16:19
the new wine, and the oil.
I lavished silver and gold on her,
which they used for Baal.
9Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time # Hs 8:7; 9:2
and My new wine in its season;
I will take away My wool and linen,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10Now I will expose her shame # Ezk 16:37
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from My hands.
11I will put an end to all her celebrations: # Jr 7:34; 16:9
her feasts, # Hs 3:4; Am 5:21; 8:10 New Moons, # Is 1:13-14 and Sabbaths —
all her festivals.
12I will devastate her vines and fig trees. # Jr 5:17; 8:13
She thinks that these are her wages
that her lovers have given her.
I will turn them into a thicket, # Ps 80:12; Is 5:5; 7:23
and the wild animals will eat them. # Is 32:13-15
13And I will punish her for the days of the Baals # Hs 4:13; 11:2
when she burned incense to them, # Jr 7:9
put on her rings and jewelry, # Ezk 16:12,17; 23:40
and went after her lovers,
but forgot Me. # Hs 4:6; 8:14; 13:6
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Israel’s Adultery Forgiven
14Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness, # Ezk 20:33-38
and speak tenderly to her. # Lit speak to her heart
15There I will give her vineyards back to her # Ezk 28:25-26
and make the Valley of Achor # = Trouble # Jos 7:26
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth, # Jr 2:1-3
as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
16In that day —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
you will call Me, “My husband,” # Is 54:5
and no longer call Me, “My Baal.” # Or My master
17For I will remove the names of the Baals
from her mouth;
they will no longer be remembered by their names.
18On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that crawl on the ground. # Jb 5:23; Is 11:6-9; Ezk 34:25
I will shatter bow, sword,
and weapons of war in the land # Or war on the earth # Ezk 39:1-10
and will enable the people to rest securely. # Ezk 34:25
19I will take you to be My wife forever. # Is 62:4-5
I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,
justice, love, and compassion. # Is 1:27; 54:6-8
20I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh. # Hs 6:6; 13:4
21On that day I will respond # Is 55:10; Zch 8:12; Mal 3:10-11 —
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will respond to the sky,
and it will respond to the earth.
22The earth will respond to the grain, # Jr 31:12; Jl 2:19
the new wine, and the oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23I will sow her # = Israel in the land for Myself, # Jr 31:37
and I will have compassion # Hs 1:6
on No Compassion;
I will say # Rm 9:25 to Not My People: # Hs 1:9
You are My people, # Hs 2:1
and he will say, “You are My God.”
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