Hosea 2

Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

1Say to your brothers, "My people." Say to your sisters, "My loved one."

NoteIn chapter 1, Hosea's children were given the names "Not My People" and "Not Loved." Here the names are turned around. Ammi means "my people," and Ruhamah means "she is loved."

2Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

2Speak to your mother. Tell her she has done wrong. She is not my wife. I am not her husband. She must stop showing that she belongs to other men.

3Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

3If she does not stop, I will take her clothes away. She will be bare, like the day she was born. I will make her like a desert. I will make her like dry ground. She will die of thirst.

4And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.

4I will not show kindness to her children. They were born while she was unfaithful.

5For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

5Their mother went after other men. She had them in shame. She said, "I will follow my lovers. They give me bread and water. They give me wool and linen. They give me oil and drink."

6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

6So I will block her path with thorn bushes. I will build a wall around her. She will not find her way.

7And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

7She will chase her lovers, but she will not catch them. She will look for them, but she will not find them. Then she will say, "I will go back to my first husband. Life was better for me then."

8For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

8She did not know that I was the one who gave her grain, new wine, and oil. I gave her plenty of silver and gold. They used it to make things for Baal, a false god.

9Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

9So I will take back my grain when it is ripe. I will take back my new wine at its season. I will take back my wool and linen that covered her.

10And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

10Now I will show her shame in front of her lovers. No one will save her from my hand.

11I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

11I will stop all her happy times. Her feasts will end. Her new moon days and her rest days will end. All her special holy days will stop.

12And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

12I will ruin her grape vines and fig trees. She said, "My lovers paid me with these." I will let them grow wild like a thicket. Wild animals will eat them.

13And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

13I will punish her for the days she served the Baals. She burned sweet-smelling incense to them. She put on her rings and jewels. She went after her lovers. But she forgot me, says the LORD.

14Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

14So I will win her back. I will lead her out into the empty land. There I will speak kindly to her.

15And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

15There I will give her vineyards back to her. I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. She will sing there, as she did when she was young. She will sing as she did the day she came out of Egypt.

16And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

16On that day, says the LORD, you will call me "my husband." You will not call me "my master" anymore.

NoteThe old word here is "Ishi," which means "my husband." The other word is "Baali," which means "my master." It sounds just like the name of the false god Baal.

17For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

17I will take the names of the Baals out of her mouth. No one will say those names again.

18And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

18On that day I will make an agreement for them. It will include the wild animals, the birds, and the small crawling creatures. I will break the bow and the sword. I will end war in the land. Then everyone will lie down safely.

19And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

19I will promise to make you mine forever. I will treat you fairly and do what is right. I will be loving and kind to you.

20I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

20I will promise to make you mine, and I will always keep my word. And you will know the LORD.

21And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

21On that day I will answer, says the LORD. I will answer the heavens above, and they will answer the earth.

22And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

22The earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil. And they will answer Jezreel.

NoteJezreel is the name of Hosea's son in chapter 1. The name means "God plants," which is why verse 23 talks about planting.

23And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

23I will plant her in the land as my own. I will show love to the one called "Not Loved." I will say to those called "Not My People," "You are my people." And they will say, "You are my God."