Hosea 2

Israel’s Adultery Rebuked

1 “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ ¹ ‡ 1Pe 2:101Ti 1:13Ezk 37:27Hos 2:23Rom 11:30-312Co 4:1Exo 19:5-6Ezk 11:20 +5

and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’ ²

2 Rebuke your mother, ‡ Isa 50:1Ezk 16:25Ezk 23:45Jer 3:13Jer 3:1Hos 1:2Hos 2:5Jer 19:3 +9

rebuke her,

for she is not My wife,

and I am not her husband.

Let her remove the adultery from her face

and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked ‡ Ezk 16:22Amo 8:11-13Ezk 19:13Isa 32:13-14Jer 13:22Exo 17:3Jer 22:6Ezk 16:37-39 +16

and expose her like the day of her birth.

I will make her like a desert

and turn her into a parched land,

and I will let her die of thirst.

4 I will have no compassion on her children, ‡ Ezk 8:18Ezk 9:10Hos 1:2Hos 1:6Jas 2:13Jer 13:14Jer 16:52Ki 9:22 +6

because they are the children of adultery.

5 For their mother has played the harlot ‡ Jer 44:17-18Hos 2:8Hos 3:1Isa 1:21Hos 2:12-13Jer 3:1-9Dan 9:5-8Ezk 16:15-16 +18

and has conceived them in disgrace.

For she thought,

‘I will go after my lovers,

who give me bread and water,

wool and linen, oil and drink.’

6 Therefore, behold, ‡ Job 19:8Lam 3:7-9Job 3:23Luk 19:43Luk 15:14-16

I will hedge up her path ³with thorns;

I will enclose her with a wall,

so she cannot find her way.

7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; ‡ Jer 2:2Hos 5:13Jer 14:22Luk 15:17-20Deu 8:17-18Ezk 23:22Ezk 23:4Hos 13:6 +25

she will seek them but not find them.

Then she will say,

‘I will return to my first husband,

for then I was better off than now.’

8 For she does not acknowledge ‡ Isa 1:3Ezk 16:16-19Hos 13:2Hos 4:11Hos 8:4Rom 1:28Act 17:23-25Dan 5:23 +13

that it was I who gave her grain,

new wine, and oil,

who lavished on her silver and gold—

which they crafted for Baal.

9 Therefore I will take back My grain in its time ‡ Ezk 23:26Hag 1:6-11Hos 2:3Isa 17:10-11Mal 1:4Mal 3:18Dan 11:13Ezk 16:27 +7

and My new wine in its season;

I will take away My wool and linen,

which were given to cover her nakedness.

10 And then I will expose her lewdness ‡ Ezk 23:29Luk 12:2-31Co 4:5Ezk 16:36-37Hos 13:7-8Hos 2:3Hos 5:13-14Isa 3:17 +5

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one will deliver her

out of My hands.

11 I will put an end to all her exultation: ‡ Isa 1:13-14Amo 5:21Amo 8:5Jer 16:9Jer 7:34Rev 18:22-231Ki 12:32Amo 8:3 +7

her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—

all her appointed feasts.

12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees, ‡ Isa 5:5Isa 7:23Hos 13:8Hos 2:5Hos 9:1Isa 29:17Isa 32:13-15Jer 26:18 +3

which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers.

So I will make them into a thicket,

and the beasts of the field will devour them.

13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals ‡ Jdg 3:7Hos 13:6Hos 11:2Hos 13:1Jer 7:9Hos 4:6Hos 8:14Hos 9:7 +30

when she burned incense to them,

when she decked herself with rings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers.

But Me she forgot,”

declares the LORD.

God’s Mercy to Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her ‡ Isa 40:1-2Ezk 20:35-36Rev 12:6Isa 30:18Gen 34:3Jhn 6:44Rev 12:14Rom 11:26-27 +24

and lead her to the wilderness,

and speak to her tenderly.

15 There I will give back her vineyards ‡ Ezk 28:26Jer 2:2Hos 11:1Jos 7:26Act 14:27Amo 9:14Ezk 16:22Ezk 16:60 +16

and make the Valley of Achor ⁴

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as she did

in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

16 In that day,” ‡ Isa 54:5Hos 2:7Jer 3:14Rev 19:72Co 11:2Jhn 3:29Eph 5:25-27

declares the LORD,

“you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ ⁵

and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’ ⁶

17 For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; ‡ Exo 23:13Jos 23:7Psa 16:4Zec 13:2Jer 10:11

no longer will their names be invoked.

18 On that day I will make a covenant for them ‡ Ezk 34:25Ezk 39:9-10Isa 11:6-9Psa 46:9Isa 65:25Jer 23:6Isa 2:4Job 5:23 +14

with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air

and the creatures that crawl on the ground.

And I will abolish bow and sword

and weapons of war in the land,

and will make them lie down in safety.

19 So I will betroth you to Me forever; ‡ 2Co 11:2Rev 21:2Isa 54:14Isa 54:8-10Ezk 37:25-28Jhn 3:29Psa 85:10Rev 19:7-9 +15

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,

in loving devotion ⁷and compassion.

20 And I will betroth you in faithfulness, ‡ Jhn 17:31Jn 4:61Jn 5:20Jer 24:7Col 1:10Hos 2:19Ezk 38:23Jer 31:33-34 +10

and you will know the LORD.”

21 “On that day I will respond—” ‡ Zec 8:12Isa 65:24Isa 55:10Mat 6:33Rom 8:321Co 3:21-23Zec 13:9

declares the LORD—

“I will respond to the heavens,

and they will respond to the earth.

22 And the earth will respond to the grain, ‡ Jol 2:19Hos 1:11Hos 1:4Jer 31:12

to the new wine and oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel. ⁸

23 And I will sow her as My own in the land, ‡ Rom 9:25-261Pe 2:9-10Zec 13:9Hos 1:9-10Rom 3:29Zec 2:11Rev 21:3-4Deu 26:17-19 +22

and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ ⁹

I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ¹⁰

‘You are My people,’ ¹¹

and they will say,

‘You are my God.’”