The Lord's Mercy on Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
    and (A)bring her into the wilderness,
    and (B)speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
    and make the Valley of Achor[a] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer (C)as in the days of her youth,
    as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 “And (D)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For (E)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And (F)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And (G)I will abolish[b] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in (H)safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me (I)forever. (J)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 (K)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And (L)you shall know the Lord.

21 “And (M)in that day (N)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 (O)Jezreel,[c]
23     and (P)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And (Q)I (R)will have mercy on No Mercy,[d]
    and (S)I will say to Not My People,[e] (T)‘You are my people’;
    and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Hosea Redeems His Wife

And the Lord said to me, (U)“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a (V)homer and a lethech[f] of barley. And I said to her, “You must (W)dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel (X)shall dwell many days (Y)without king or prince, (Z)without sacrifice or (AA)pillar, without (AB)ephod or (AC)household gods. Afterward (AD)the children of Israel shall return and (AE)seek the Lord their God, and (AF)David their king, (AG)and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the (AH)latter days.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26
  2. Hosea 2:18 Hebrew break
  3. Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God will sow
  4. Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama
  5. Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi
  6. Hosea 3:2 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; a lethech was about 3 bushels or 110 liters

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