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 grain 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 jewelry,
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 master.2:16 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 forever;
I will betroth you in2:19 Or with; also in verse 20 righteousness and justice,
in2:19 Or with love and compassion.
20I will betroth you in 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 one.2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
1“Frɛ wo nuabarimanom, ‘Me nkurɔfo’ na frɛ wo nuabeanom, ‘Mʼadɔfo.’ ”
Wɔtwe Israel Aso, Gye No To Mu Bio
2“Ka wo na anim, ka nʼanim,
na ɔnyɛ me yere
na menyɛ ne kunu.
Ma ɔnsesa nʼanim a ayɛ aguaman anim no
na onnyae awaresɛe a ɔde ne nufu yɛ no.
3Anyɛ saa a mɛpa ne ho ntama
na wada adagyaw te sɛ da a wɔwoo no no;
mɛma wayɛ sɛ nweatam,
mɛdan no asase a awo wosee
na mama osukɔm akum no.
4Merennɔ ne mma,
efisɛ wɔyɛ aguaman mma.
5Wɔn na anyɛ ɔnokwafo
na onyinsɛnee wɔn wɔ animguase mu.
Ɔkae se, ‘Medi mʼadɔfo akyi,
wɔn a wɔma me aduan ne nsu,
ne kuntu ne nwera, ngo ne nsa.’
6Eyi nti, mede nsɔe besiw no kwan;
mɛto ɔfasu afa ne ho, sɛnea ɛbɛyɛ a ɔrenhu kwan.
7Obetiw nʼadɔfo, nanso ɔrento wɔn;
ɔbɛhwehwɛ wɔn, nanso ɔrenhu wɔn.
Afei, ɔbɛka se,
‘Mɛsan akɔ me kunu nkyɛn, te sɛ kan no,
efisɛ, saa bere no na eye ma me sen mprempren.’
8Ɔnkae sɛ me na
memaa no aduan, nsa foforo ne ngo,
nea ɔmaa sikakɔkɔɔ ne dwetɛ buu no so
ma wɔde kɔsom Baal no.
9“Enti sɛ mʼaduan no du twabere a mɛfa mʼade,
ne me nsa foforo no nso saa ara.
Megye me kuntu ne me nwera,
a anka mepɛ sɛ ɔde kata nʼadagyaw so no.
10Enti afei mɛbɔ no adagyaw
wɔ nʼadɔfo anim;
obiara rentumi nnye no mfi me nsam.
11Metwa nʼafahyɛ nyinaa so:
nʼafirihyia afahyɛ, Ɔsram Foforo afahyɛ
Homeda afahyɛ ne nʼafahyɛ ahorow nyinaa.
12Mɛsɛe ne bobe ne borɔdɔma nnua,
nea ɔka se nʼadɔfo de tuaa no ka no;
mɛyɛ ne nyinaa nkyɛkyerɛ,
ama wuram mmoa awe.
13Mɛtwe nʼaso wɔ nna a
ɔhyew aduhuam maa Baal no ho;
ɔde nkaa ne agude hyehyɛɛ ne ho,
tu dii nʼadɔfo akyi,
me de, ne werɛ fii me,”
nea Awurade se ni.
14“Enti merekɔdaadaa no;
mede no bɛkɔ nweatam so
na makasa bɔkɔɔ akyerɛ no wɔ hɔ.
15Mɛsan de ne bobe mfuw ama no.
Mɛyɛ no Sɛkyɛ Bon,
anidaso pon.
Ɛhɔ na ɔbɛto dwom sɛnea na ɔyɛ ne mmabun bere mu no
ne bere a ofii Misraim no.
16“Saa da no,” sɛɛ na Awurade se,
“Wobɛfrɛ me ‘me kunu’;
na woremfrɛ me ‘me wura’ bio.
17Meyi Baal ahorow din no afi nʼano;
na ɔrenkankye wɔ wɔn din mu bio.
18Saa da no, mɛyɛ apam ama wɔn,
wɔne wuram mmoa ne wim nnomaa
ne mmoa a wɔwea wɔ asase so.
Tadua, mpeaw ne ɔko,
mɛbra wɔ asase no so,
sɛnea wɔn nyinaa bɛtena ase asomdwoe mu.
19Mɛware wo afebɔɔ;
mɛda trenee ne atɛntrenee,
ahummɔbɔ ne ayamhyehye adi akyerɛ wo.
20Mɛware wo nokware mu,
ama woahu Awurade.
21“Saa da no, megye wo so,”
nea Awurade se ni.
“Megye ɔsoro so,
na ɔsoro de osu begye asase so,
22na asase nso begye nnɔbae so:
bobe foforo ne ngodua,
na wɔn nso agye so se ‘Yesreel’, ‘Onyankopɔn na wadua.’
23Mede Israel bedua asase no so ama me ho;
mɛda me dɔ adi akyerɛ nea mekae se, ‘wonyɛ me dɔfo’ no.
Mɛka akyerɛ wɔn a misee wɔn sɛ ‘monyɛ me nkurɔfo’ no se
‘moyɛ me nkurɔfo,’
na wɔn nso aka se, ‘Wone me Nyankopɔn.’”