1 No Compassion for Children of Harlotry 2:1Ch2:3in Heb Say to your brothers, “ 2:1 Lit my people Ammi,” and to your sisters, “ 2:1 Lit she has obtained compassion Ruhamah.”
2 “Contend with your mother, contend,For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband;And let her remove her harlotry from her faceAnd her adultery from between her breasts,
3 Lest I strip her nakedAnd set her forth as on the day when she was bornAnd make her like a wildernessAnd 2:3 Lit set make her like dry landAnd put her to death with thirst.
4 “Also, I will have no compassion on her childrenBecause they are children of harlotry.
5 “For their mother has played the harlot;She who conceived them has acted shamefully.For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,Who givememy bread and my water,My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up 2:6As in some ancient versions; Heb your her way with thorns,And I will build 2:6Lit her wall so that a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.
7 “So she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;And she will seek them, but will not findthem.Then she will say, ‘I will go, and I will return to my first husband,For it was better for me then than now!’
8 ¶“Now she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,And multiplied silver and gold for her,Whichthey 2:8 Or made into the used for Baal.
9 “Therefore, I will take back My grain at 2:9Lit its time harvest timeAnd My new wine in its season.I will also deliver My wool and My flaxfrom themGivento cover her nakedness.
10 “So now I will uncover her lewdnessIn the sight of her lovers,And no one will deliver her out of My hand.
11 “I will also cease all her joy,Her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,And all her appointed times.
12 “And I will make desolate her vines and fig trees,Of which she said, ‘These are my wagesWhich my lovers have given me.’And I will make them a forest,And the beasts of the field will devour them.
13 “So I will visit the days of the Baals upon herWhen she used to 2:13Or burn incense offerofferingsin smoke to themAnd adorn herself with her 2:13Or nose rings earrings and jewelryAnd go after her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares Yahweh.Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal
14 ¶“Therefore, behold, I will allure herAnd bring her into the wildernessAnd speak to her heart.
15 “Then I will give her her vineyards from thereAnd the valley of Achor as a door of hope.And she will 2:15Or give answer sing there as in the days of her youth,As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 “And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,“Thatyou will call Me 2:16Lit my husband IshiAnd will no longer call Me 2:16Lit my master, my Baal Baali.
17 “So I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouthSo that they will be remembered by their names no more.
18 “And in that day I will cut a covenant for themWith the beasts of the field,The birds of the sky,And the creeping things of the ground.And I will break the bow, the sword, and war from the land,And I will make them lie down in security.
19 “And I will betroth you to Me forever;Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.Then you will know Yahweh.
21 ¶“And it will be in that day,thatI will answer,” declares Yahweh.“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,
22 And the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,And they will answer 2:22Lit God sows Jezreel.
23 “And I will sow her for Myself in the land.I will also have compassion on 2:23Heb Lo-ruhamah her who had not obtained compassion,And I will say to 2:23Heb Lo-ammi those who were not My people,‘You are My people!’And 2:23Lit he they will say, ‘You aremy God!’ ”