Hosea 2:2-11

“Contend with your mother (nation); contend, For she is not my wife and I am not her husband; And have her remove her [marks of] prostitution from her face And her adultery from between her breasts [Is 50:1] Or I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness And make her like a parched land And slay her with thirst. “Also, I will have no mercy on her children, Because they are the children of prostitution. “For their mother has played the prostitute; She who conceived them has acted shamefully, For she said, ‘I will pursue my lovers Who give me my food and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my [refreshing] drinks.’ “Therefore, behold, I [the LORD God] will hedge up her way with thorns; And I will build a wall against her [shutting off her way] so that she cannot find her paths. “She will [passionately] pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now!’ ¶“For she (Israel) has not noticed nor understood nor realized that it was I [the LORD God] who gave her the grain and the new wine and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal and made into his image. “Therefore, I will return and take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax Given to cover her nakedness. “And now I will uncover her lewdness and shame In the sight of her lovers, And no one will rescue her from My hand. “I will also put an end to all her rejoicing, Her feasts, her New Moons, her Sabbaths, And all her festivals.