Hosea 2

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Protest against your mother, protest! for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her harlotry from before her, her adultery from between her breasts,	1 “Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’
2 Or I will strip her naked, leaving her as on the day of her birth; I will make her like the desert, reduce her to an arid land, and slay her with thirst.	2 Judge your mother, judge: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her fornications from before her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.
3 I will have no pity on her children, for they are the children of harlotry.	3 Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.
4 Yes, their mother has played the harlot; she that conceived them has acted shamefully. "I will go after my lovers," she said, "who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink."	4 And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of fornications.
5 Since she has not known that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, And her abundance of silver, and of gold, which they used for Baal,	5 For their mother has been fornicating; she who conceived them has been brought to ruin. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; I will snatch away my wool and my flax, with which she covers her nakedness.	6 Because of this, behold, I will fence in your way with thorns, and I will surround it with a wall, and she will not find her paths.
7 So now I will lay bare her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and no one can deliver her out of my hand.	7 And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not obtain them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was to some extent better for me then, than it is now.’
8 I will bring an end to all her joy, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her solemnities.	8 And she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into Baal.
9 I will lay waste her vines and fig trees, of which she said, "These are the hire my lovers have given me"; I will turn them into rank growth and wild beasts shall devour them.	9 For this reason, I will turn back, and I will take away my grain in its time and my wine in its time, and I will set free my wool and my flax, which had covered her disgrace.
10 I will punish her for the days of the Baals, for whom she burnt incense While she decked herself out with her rings and her jewels, and, in going after her lovers, forgot me, says the LORD.	10 And now, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my hand.
11 Therefore, I will hedge in her way with thorns and erect a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.	11 And I will cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her feast dates.
12 If she runs after her lovers, she shall not overtake them; if she looks for them she shall not find them. Then she shall say, "I will go back to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now."	12 And I will corrupt her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These rewards, they are mine, my lovers have given them to me.’ And I will place her in a narrow forest, and the beasts of the field will devour her.
13 So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.	13 And I will inflict on her the days of the Baals, for whom she burned incense, and ornamented herself with earrings and necklace, and went after her lovers, and forgot about me,” says the Lord.
14 From there I will give her the vineyards she had, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt.	14 “Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.
15 On that day, says the LORD, She shall call me "My husband," and never again "My baal."	15 And I will give to her, from the same place, her vinedressers, and the valley of Achor as a passage of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days of her ascension from the land of Egypt.
16 Then will I remove from her mouth the names of the Baals, so that they shall no longer be invoked.	16 And it will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’
17 I will make a covenant for them on that day, with the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, and with the things that crawl on the ground. Bow and sword and war I will destroy from the land, and I will let them take their rest in security.	17 And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.
18 I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy;	18 And in that day, I will strike a deal with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creatures of the earth. And I will crush the bow and the sword, and I will wipe away war from the earth. And I will let them sleep securely.
19 I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.	19 And I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.
20 On that day I will respond, says the LORD; I will respond to the heavens, and they shall respond to the earth;	20 And I will wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.
21 The earth shall respond to the grain, and wine, and oil, and these shall respond to Jezreel.	21 And this will happen in that day: I will listen closely,” says the Lord. “I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth.
22 I will sow him for myself in the land, and I will have pity on Lo-ruhama. I will say to Lo-ammi, "You are my people," and he shall say, "My God!"	22 And the land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.
	23 And I will plant her for me in the land, and I will have mercy on her, though she had been called Without Mercy.
	24 And I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”