Hosea 2

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
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 ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru-hamah.
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 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 I will have no pity on her children, for they are the children of harlotry.	3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay 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 upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
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 hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine 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 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall 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 shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
8 I will bring an end to all her joy, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her solemnities.	8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for 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 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
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 will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine 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 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
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 destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.	13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith 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 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
15 On that day, says the LORD, She shall call me "My husband," and never again "My baal."	15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of 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 shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
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 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by 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 will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
19 I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.	19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 On that day I will respond, says the LORD; I will respond to the heavens, and they shall respond to the earth;	20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.
21 The earth shall respond to the grain, and wine, and oil, and these shall respond to Jezreel.	21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall 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 earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
	23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.