Hosea 2-5

English Standard Version

² “Plead with your mother, plead—
    for ^(C)she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband—
that she put away ^(D)her whoring from her face,
    and her adultery from between her breasts;
³ lest ^(E)I strip her naked
    and make her as ^(F)in the day she was born,
and ^(G)make her like a wilderness,
    and make her like a parched land,
    and kill her with thirst.
^4 (H)Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
    ^(I)because they are children of whoredom.
⁵ For ^(J)their mother has played the whore;
    she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For ^(K)she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
    who ^(L)give me my bread and my water,
    my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
⁶ Therefore ^(M)I will hedge up her^[d] way with thorns,
    and ^(N)I will build a wall against her,
    so that she cannot find her paths.
⁷ She shall pursue her lovers
    but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
    but shall not find them.
^(O)Then she shall say,
    ‘I will go and return to ^(P)my first husband,
    ^(Q)for it was better for me then than now.’
⁸ And ^(R)she did not know
    that it was ^(S)I who gave her
    ^(T)the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on ^(U)her silver and gold,
    ^(V)which they used for Baal.
⁹ Therefore ^(W)I will take back
    my grain in its time,
    and my wine in its season,
and ^(X)I will take away my wool and my flax,
    which were to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰ Now ^(Y)I will uncover her lewdness
    in the sight of her lovers,
    and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
^11 (Z)And I will put an end to all her mirth,
    her feasts, her ^(AA)new moons, her ^(AB)Sabbaths,
    and all her ^(AC)appointed feasts.
¹² And ^(AD)I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
    ^(AE)of which she said,
‘These are ^(AF)my wages,
    which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
    ^(AG)and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
¹³ And ^(AH)I will punish her for ^(AI)the feast days of the Baals
    when she burned offerings to them
and ^(AJ)adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
    and went after her lovers
    and forgot me, declares the Lord.

²¹ “And ^(AW)in that day ^(AX)I will answer, declares the Lord,
    I will answer the heavens,
    and they shall answer the earth,
²² and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and they shall answer ^(AY)Jezreel,^[g]
23     and ^(AZ)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And ^(BA)I ^(BB)will have mercy on No Mercy,^[h]
    and ^(BC)I will say to Not My People,^{[i] (BD)}‘You are my people’;
    and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

^4 (CA)Yet let no one contend,
    and let none accuse,
    for with you is ^(CB)my contention, O priest.^[k]
5 You shall stumble by day;
    the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
    and I will destroy ^(CC)your mother.
⁶ My people are destroyed ^(CD)for lack of knowledge;
    ^(CE)because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you ^(CF)from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    ^(CG)I also will forget your children.

^7 (CH)The more they increased,
    the more they sinned against me;
    ^(CI)I will change their glory into shame.
^8 (CJ)They feed on the sin^[l] of my people;
    they are greedy for their iniquity.
^9 (CK)And it shall be like people, like priest;
    I will punish them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.
^10 (CL)They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
    they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
    to cherish ¹¹ whoredom, wine, and new wine,
    which ^(CM)take away the understanding.
¹² My people ^(CN)inquire of a piece of wood,
    and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For ^(CO)a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
    and they have left their God to play the whore.
^13 (CP)They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
    and burn offerings on the hills,
^(CQ)under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
    because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
    and your brides commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
    nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for ^(CR)the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
    and sacrifice with ^(CS)cult prostitutes,
and a people ^(CT)without understanding shall come to ruin.

¹⁵ Though you play the whore, O ^(CU)Israel,
    let not ^(CV)Judah become guilty.
^(CW)Enter not into ^(CX)Gilgal,
    nor go up to ^(CY)Beth-aven,
    and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
¹⁶ Like a stubborn heifer,
    Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
    like a lamb in a broad pasture?

^17 (CZ)Ephraim is joined to idols;
    ^(DA)leave him alone.
¹⁸ When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
    ^(DB)their rulers^[m] dearly love shame.
^19 (DC)A wind has wrapped them^[n] in its wings,
    and they shall ^(DD)be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

^3 (DK)I know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
    Israel is defiled.
^4 (DL)Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
For ^(DM)the spirit of whoredom is within them,
    and they know not the Lord.

^5 (DN)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[o]
    Israel and ^(DO)Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
    ^(DP)Judah also shall stumble with them.
^6 (DQ)With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the Lord,
^(DR)but they will not find him;
    ^(DS)he has withdrawn from them.
^7 (DT)They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
    for they have borne alien children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

^8 (DU)Blow the horn in ^(DV)Gibeah,
    the trumpet in ^(DW)Ramah.
Sound the alarm at ^(DX)Beth-aven;
    we follow you,^[p] O Benjamin!
⁹ Ephraim shall become a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I make known what is sure.
¹⁰ The princes of Judah have become
    like ^(DY)those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is ^(DZ)oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after filth.^[q]
12 But I am ^(EA)like a moth to Ephraim,
    and ^(EB)like dry rot to the house of Judah.

¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness,
    and Judah ^(EC)his wound,
then Ephraim went ^(ED)to Assyria,
    and sent to the great king.^[r]
(EE)But he is not able to cure you
    or heal ^(EF)your wound.
¹⁴ For I will be ^(EG)like a lion to ^(EH)Ephraim,
    and like a young lion to the house of ^(EI)Judah.
^(EJ)I, even I, will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

^15 (EK)I will return again to my place,
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
    and ^(EL)in their distress earnestly seek me.