Dual Panel1You are to say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You are loved.”
2Call your mother to account, for she is no longer my wife nor am I her husband. Let her put an end to her infidelity and banish the lovers from her bosom,
3or else I shall strip her bare and parade her naked as the day she was born. I shall make her bare as the wilderness, parched as the desert, and leave her to die of thirst.
4I shall show no love towards her children, for they are the offspring of adultery.
5Their mother has been promiscuous; she who conceived them is shameless. She says, “I will go after my lovers, who supply me with food and drink, with my wool and flax, my oil and perfumes.”
6That is why I shall close her road with thorn bushes and obstruct her path with a wall, so that she can no longer find a way through.
7Though she pursues her lovers she will not overtake them, though she looks for them she will not find them. At last she will say, “I shall go back to my husband again, for I was better off then than I am now.”
8She does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and fresh oil, I who lavished on her silver and gold which they used for the Baal.
9That is why I am going to take back my grain at the harvest and my new wine at the vintage, take away the wool and the flax which I provided to cover her naked body.
10Now I shall reveal her shame to her lovers, and no one will rescue her from me.
11I shall put a stop to all her merrymaking, her pilgrimages, new moons, and sabbaths, all her festivals.
12I shall ravage the vines and the fig trees, of which she says, “These are the fees which my lovers have paid me,” and I shall leave them to grow wild so that beasts may eat them.
13I shall punish her for the holy days when she burnt sacrifices to the baalim, when she decked herself with her rings and necklaces, when, forgetful of me, she ran after her lovers. This is the word of the LORD.
14But now I shall woo her, lead her into the wilderness, and speak words of encouragement to her.
15There I shall restore her vineyards to her, turning the valley of Achor into a gate of hope; there she will respond as in her youth, as when she came up from Egypt.
16On that day she will call me “My husband” and will no more call me “My Baal”; I shall banish from her lips the very names of the baalim; never again will their names be invoked. This is the word of the LORD.
17(2:16)
18Then I shall make a covenant on Israel's behalf with the wild beasts, the birds of the air, and the creatures that creep on the ground, and I shall break bow and sword and weapon of war and sweep them off the earth, so that my people may lie down without fear.
19I shall betroth you to myself for ever, bestowing righteousness and justice, loyalty and love;
20I shall betroth you to myself, making you faithful, and you will know the LORD.
21At that time I shall answer, says the LORD; I shall answer the heavens and they will answer the earth,
22and the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and fresh oil, and they will answer Jezreel.
23Israel will be my new sowing in the land, and I shall show love to Lo-ruhamah and say to Lo-ammi, “You are my people,” and he will say, “You are my God.”