1 ` Say ye to your brethren -- Ammi, And to your sisters -- Ruhamah.

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

2 P lead ye with your mother -- plead, (For she not My wife, and I not her husband,) And she turneth her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts,

“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.

3 L est I strip her naked. And have set her up as the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

If 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.

4 A nd her sons I do not pity, For sons of whoredoms they,

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

5 F or gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

Their 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.’

6 T herefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find.

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

7 A nd she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For -- better to me then than now.

She 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.’

8 A nd she knew not that I had given to her, The corn, and the new wine, and the oil. Yea, silver I did multiply to her, And the gold they prepared for Baal.

“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.

9 T herefore do I turn back, And I have taken My corn in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness.

So 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.

10 A nd now do I reveal her dishonour before the eyes of her lovers, And none doth deliver her out of My hand.

So 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.

11 A nd I have caused to cease all her joy, Her festival, her new moon, and her sabbath, Even all her appointed times,

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.

12 A nd made desolate her vine and her fig-tree, Of which she said, A gift they to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And consumed them hath a beast of the field.

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.

13 A nd I have charged on her the days of the Baalim, To whom she maketh perfume, And putteth on her ring and her ornament, And goeth after her lovers, And Me forgat -- an affirmation of Jehovah.

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

14 T herefore, lo, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken unto her heart,

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

15 A nd given to her her vineyards from thence, And the valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she hath responded there as in the days of her youth, And as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

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.

16 A nd it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, Thou dost call Me -- My husband, And dost not call Me any more -- My lord.

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

17 A nd I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name.

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

18 A nd I have made to them a covenant in that day, with the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently.

In 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.

19 A nd I have betrothed thee to Me to the age, And betrothed thee to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

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.

20 A nd betrothed thee to Me in faithfulness, And thou hast known Jehovah.

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

21 A nd it hath come to pass in that day, I answer -- an affirmation of Jehovah, I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth.

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

22 A nd the earth doth answer the corn, And the new wine, and the oil, And they answer Jezreel.

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

23 A nd I have sowed her to Me in the land, And I have pitied Lo-Ruhamah, And I have said to Lo-Ammi, My people thou, and it saith, My God!'

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!’”