1 “ Say to your brothers, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one.’ God’s People Who Are Not Faithful

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

2 “ Speak with strong words to your mother. Speak with strong words, for she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop selling the use of her body and giving herself to other men.

Plead 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;

3 I f she does not, I will put her to shame by taking off her clothes and show her as when she was born. I will make her like a desert, like a hot and dry land, and will kill her with thirst.

lest 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.

4 I will have no loving-pity on her children, for they are children of her sinful ways.

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

5 T heir mother has not been faithful. She who gave birth to them has acted in shame. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers. They give me my bread and water, my wool and linen, my oil and my drink.’

For 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.

6 S o I will put thorn bushes in her way. I will build a wall so that she cannot find her way.

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

7 S he will go after her lovers but will not catch up with them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband. For it was better for me then than now.’

And 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.

8 “ She does not know that it was I Who gave her the grain, the new wine, the oil, and all the silver and gold, which they used for the false god Baal.

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

9 S o I will take back My grain during the gathering time, and My new wine during its time. And I will take away My wool and My linen, which were given to cover her.

Therefore 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.

10 S o I will take away the covering of her shame in the eyes of her lovers. And no one will take her out of My hand.

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

11 I will put an end to all her fun, her special suppers, her new moons, her Days of Rest, and all her special times for gathering together.

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

12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers. I will make many trees grow wild among them, and the animals of the field will eat them.

And 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.

13 I will punish her for the days she gave gifts in worship to the false gods of Baal. I will punish her for the times she forgot Me, and put on rings and other beautiful objects and went after her lovers” says the Lord. God’s Loving-Kindness for His People

And 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.

14 “ So I will lead her into the desert and speak words of comfort to her.

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

15 I will give her grape-fields there, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And she will sing there as she did when she was young, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

And 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.

16 I n that day” says the Lord, “you will call Me, ‘My Husband.’ And you will no longer call Me, ‘My Baal.’

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

17 F or I will take the names of the Baals from her mouth. The names of these false gods will never be spoken again.

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

18 I n that day I will make an agreement for them with the wild animals of the field, the birds of the sky, and the things which move upon the ground. I will put an end to the bow, the sword, and war in all the land. And I will let My people lie down in peace and be safe.

And 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.

19 I will promise to make you Mine forever. Yes, I will take you as My bride in what is right and good and fair, and in loving-kindness and in loving-pity.

And 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.

20 I will keep My promise and make you Mine. Then you will know the Lord.

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

21 “ In that day” says the Lord, “I will give an answer to the heavens, and they will give an answer to the earth.

And 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;

22 T he earth will give an answer to the grain, the new wine, and the oil. And they will give an answer to Jezreel.

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

23 I will plant her for Myself in the land. Those who were not loved, I will call, ‘My loved ones.’ Those who were not My people, I will call, ‘My people.’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

And 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.