1“People of Israel, call your brothers ‘My people.’ And call your sisters ‘My loved ones.’
Israel Is Punished and Brought Back to the Lord
2“Tell your mother she is wrong.
Tell her she is wrong.
She isn’t acting like a wife to me anymore.
She no longer treats me as her husband.
Tell her to stop looking and acting like a prostitute.
Tell her not to let her lovers
lie on her breasts anymore.
3If she doesn’t stop it, I will strip her naked.
I’ll make her as bare as she was on the day she was born.
I’ll make her like a desert.
She will become like dry land.
And I’ll let her die of thirst.
4“I won’t show my love to her children.
They are the children of other men.
5Their mother hasn’t been faithful to me.
She who became pregnant with them
has brought shame on herself.
She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers.
They give me my food and water.
They provide me with wool and linen.
They give me olive oil and wine.’
6So I will block her path with bushes that have thorns.
I’ll build a wall around her.
Then she can’t go to her lovers.
7She will still chase after her lovers.
But she won’t catch them.
She’ll look for them.
But she won’t find them.
Then she’ll say,
‘I’ll go back to my husband.
That’s where I was at first.
I was better off then than I am now.’
8She wouldn’t admit that I was the one
who gave her everything she had.
I provided her with grain, olive oil and fresh wine.
I gave her plenty of silver and gold.
But she used it to make statues of Baal.
9“So I will take away my grain when it gets ripe.
I’ll take my fresh wine when it’s ready.
I’ll take back my wool and my linen.
I gave them to her to cover her naked body.
10So now I’ll uncover her body.
All her lovers will see it.
No one can stop me from punishing her.
11I will put a stop to the special times she celebrates.
I’ll bring an end to the feasts she celebrates each year.
I’ll stop her New Moon feasts and her Sabbath days.
I’ll bring all her appointed feasts to an end.
12I will destroy her vines and her fig trees.
She said they were her pay from her lovers.
I’ll make them like clumps of bushes and weeds.
Wild animals will eat them up.
13Israel burned incense to the gods
that were named Baal.
I will punish her
for all the times she did that.
She decorated herself with rings and jewelry.
Then she went after her lovers.
But she forgot all about me,”
declares the Lord.
14“So now I am going to draw her back to me.
I will lead her into the desert.
There I will speak tenderly to her.
15I will give her back her vineyards.
I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope for her.
Then she will love me, as she did when she was young.
She will love me just as she did
when she came up out of Egypt.
16“A new day is coming,” announces the Lord.
“Israel will call me ‘my husband.’
She will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17She will no longer speak about the gods
that are named Baal.
She will not pray to them for help anymore.
18At that time I will make a covenant
for the good of my people.
I will make it with the wild animals
and the birds in the sky.
It will also be made with the creatures
that move along the ground.
I will remove bows and swords
and other weapons of war from the land.
Then my people can lie down in safety.
19I will make Israel my own.
She will belong to me forever.
I will do to her what is right and fair.
I will love her tenderly.
20I will be faithful to her.
And she will recognize me as the Lord.
21“So at that time I will answer her,”
announces the Lord.
“I will command the skies
to send rain on the earth.
22Then the earth will produce grain, olive oil and fresh wine.
And Israel will be called Jezreel.
That’s because I will answer her prayers.
23I will plant her in the land for myself.
I will show my love to the one I called Not My Loved One.
I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those who were called Not My People.
And they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
In Hebrew texts 2:1-23 is numbered 2:3-25. 1‘Say of your brothers, “My people”, and of your sisters, “My loved one”.
Israel punished and restored
2‘Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, “I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.”
6Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
“I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.”
8She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold –
which they used for Baal.
9‘Therefore I will take away my corn when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no-one will take her out of my hands.
11I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days – all her appointed festivals.
12I will ruin her vines and her fig-trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewellery,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,’ declares the Lord.
14‘Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor2:15 Achor means trouble. a door of hope.
There she will respond2:15 Or sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
‘you will call me “my husband”;
you will no longer call me “my master2:16 Hebrew baal”.
17I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19I will betroth you to me for ever;
I will betroth you in2:19 Or with righteousness and justice,
in2:19 Or with love and compassion.
20I will betroth you in2:20 Or with faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21‘In that day I will respond,’
declares the Lord –
‘I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
23I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called “Not my loved one2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)”.
I will say to those called “Not my people2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)”, “You are my people”;
and they will say, “You are my God.” ’
