Hosea 2:5-13

English Standard Version

⁵For ^(A)their mother has played the whore;
    she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For ^(B)she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
    who ^(C)give me my bread and my water,
    my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
⁶Therefore ^(D)I will hedge up her^[a] way with thorns,
    and ^(E)I will build a wall against her,
    so that she cannot find her paths.
⁷She shall pursue her lovers
    but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
    but shall not find them.
^(F)Then she shall say,
    ‘I will go and return to ^(G)my first husband,
    ^(H)for it was better for me then than now.’
⁸And ^(I)she did not know
    that it was ^(J)I who gave her
    ^(K)the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on ^(L)her silver and gold,
    ^(M)which they used for Baal.
⁹Therefore ^(N)I will take back
    my grain in its time,
    and my wine in its season,
and ^(O)I will take away my wool and my flax,
    which were to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰Now ^(P)I will uncover her lewdness
    in the sight of her lovers,
    and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
¹¹^(Q)And I will put an end to all her mirth,
    her feasts, her ^(R)new moons, her ^(S)Sabbaths,
    and all her ^(T)appointed feasts.
¹²And ^(U)I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
    ^(V)of which she said,
‘These are ^(W)my wages,
    which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
    ^(X)and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
¹³And ^(Y)I will punish her for ^(Z)the feast days of the Baals
    when she burned offerings to them
and ^(AA)adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
    and went after her lovers
    and forgot me, declares the Lord.