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.

Contend with your mother, contend: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore remove her whoredoms from her face 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.

Neither will I have mercy upon her sons, for they are the sons 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 has played the harlot; she that conceived them has been shamed; for she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my 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 it was 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 recognize that I gave her the wheat and the wine and the oil and multiplied unto them the silver and the gold, with which they made 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 I will return and take away my wheat in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax that I had 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 I will uncover her folly in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my 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, her new moon, and her sabbath, and all her festivities.

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 cause her vine and her fig tree to be cut down, of which she has said, These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will reduce them to a thicket, 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 times of the Baals, unto whom she burned incense, and she adorned herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, oblivious of me, saith the LORD.

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

¶ Therefore, behold, I will induce her and bring her into the wilderness and speak unto her heart.

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 vineyards from there, 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 in that time, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me My Husband, and shalt no longer call me 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 Baals out of her mouth, and they shall no longer 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 time I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of the heaven and with the serpents of the earth; and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle of the earth and will cause them to sleep 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 mercy.

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

I will even betroth thee unto me in faith: 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 respond, saith the LORD, I will respond to the heavens, and they shall respond to 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 respond to the wheat and the wine and the oil; and they shall respond to 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 Loruhamah, and I will say to Loammi, Thou art my people; and he shall say, Thou art my God.