6She conceived again and bore a daughter; and He said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah;e for I will no longer accept the House of Israel f-or pardon them.-f (7But I will accept the House of Judah. And I will give them victory through the LORD their God; I will not give them victory with bow and sword and battle, by horses and riders.)”
8After weaning Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9Then He said, “Name him Lo-ammi;g for youh are not My people, and i-I will not be your [God].”-i
2 aThe number of the people of Israel shall be like that of the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; and instead of being told, “You are Not-My-People,”b they shall be called Children-of-the-Living-God. 2The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall assemble together and appoint one head over them; and they shall rise from the groundc— for marvelous shall be d-the day of Jezreel!-d
3Oh, calle your brothers “My People,”
And your sisters “Lovingly Accepted!”
4Rebukee your mother, rebuke her—
For she is not My wife
And I am not her husband—
And let her put away her harlotry from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts.
5Else will I strip her naked
And leave her as on the day she was born:
And I will make her like a wilderness,
Render her like desert land,
And let her die of thirst.
6I will also disown her children;
For they are now a harlot’s brood,
7In that their mother has played the harlot,
She that conceived them has acted shamelessly—
Because she thought,
“I will go after my lovers,
Who supply my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.”
8Assuredly,
I will hedge up herf roads with thorns
And raise walls against her,
And she shall not find her paths.
9Pursue her lovers as she will,
She shall not overtake them;
And seek them as she may,
She shall never find them.
Then she will say,
“I will go and return
To my first husband,
For then I fared better than now.”
10And she did not consider this:
It was I who bestowed on her
The new grain and wine and oil;
I who lavished silver on her
And gold—which they used for Baal.
11Assuredly,
I will take back My new grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And I will snatch away My wool and My linen
That serve to cover her nakedness.
12Now will I uncover her shame
In the very sight of her lovers,
And none shall save her from Me.
13And I will end all her rejoicing:
Her festivals, new moons, and sabbaths—
All her festive seasons.
14I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
Which she thinks are a fee
She received from her lovers;
I will turn them into brushwood,
And beasts of the field shall devour them.
15Thus will I punish her
For the days of the Baalim,
On which she brought them offerings;
When, decked with earrings and jewels,
She would go after her lovers,
Forgetting Me
—declares the LORD.
16Assuredly,
I will speak coaxingly to her
And lead her through the wildernessg
And speak to her tenderly.
17I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achorh as a i-plowland of hope.-i
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
When she came up from the land of Egypt.
18And in that day
—declares the LORD—
You will call [Me] Ishi,j
And no more will you call Me Baali.j
19For I will remove the names of the Baalim from her mouth,
And they shall nevermore be mentioned by name.
20In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I will also banishk bow, sword, and war from the land. Thus I will let them lie down in safety.
21And I will espouse you forever:
I will espouse youl- with righteousness and justice,
And with goodness and mercy,
22And I will espouse you with faithfulness;-l
Then you shall be devoted to the LORD.
23In that day,
I will respond
—declares the LORD—
I will respond to the sky,
And it shall respond to the earth;
24And the earth shall respond
With new grain and wine and oil,
And they shall respond to Jezreel.m
25I will sow her in the land as My own;
And take Lo-ruhamah back in favor;
And I will say to Lo-ammi, “You are My people,”
And he will respond, “[You are] my God.”
3 The LORD said to me further, “Go, a- befriend a woman who, while befriended by a companion, consorts with others, just as the LORD befriends the Israelites,-a but they turn b- to other gods and love the cups of the grape.”-b
2Then I hired her for fifteen [shekels of] silver, a homer of barley, and c- a lethech of barley; -c 3and I stipulated with her, d-“In return, -b you are to go a long time without either fornicating or marrying; even I [shall not cohabit] with you.”
4For the Israelites shall go a long time without king and without officials, without sacrifice e and without cult pillars, and without ephod and teraphim. 5Afterward, the Israelites will turn back and will seek the LORD their God and David their king—and they will thrill over the LORD and over His bounty in the days to come.
4
Hear the word of the LORD,
O people of Israel!
For the LORD has a case
Against the inhabitants of this land,
Because there is no honesty and no goodness
And no obedience to God in the land.
2[False] swearing, dishonesty, and murder,
And theft and adultery are rife;
Crime follows upon crime!
3For that, the earth is withered:
Everything that dwells on it languishes—
Beasts of the field and birds of the sky—
Even the fish of the sea perish.
4“Let no man rebuke, let no man protest!”
a-
For this your people has a grievance against [you], O priest! -a
5So you shall stumble by day,
And by night b- a prophet -b shall stumble as well,
And I will destroy your kindred. c
6My people is destroyed because of [your] disobedience!
Because you have rejected obedience,
I reject you as My priest;
Because you have spurned the teaching of your God,
I, in turn, will spurn your children.
7The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me:
I will change their dignity to dishonor.
8They feed on My people’s sin offerings,
And so they desire its iniquity.
9Therefore, the people shall fare like the priests:
I will punish it for its conduct,
I will requite it for its deeds.
10Truly, they shall eat, but not be sated;
They shall swill,d but not be satisfied,
Because they have forsaken the LORD
To practicee
11 lechery.
Winef and new wine destroy
The mind of
12 My people:
It consults its stick,g
Its rodg directs it!
A lecherous impulse has made them go wrong,
And they have strayedh from submission to their God.
13They sacrifice on the mountaintops
And offer on the hills,
Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths
Whose shade is so pleasant.
That is why theiridaughters fornicate
And their daughters-in-law commit adultery!
14I will not punish their daughters for fornicating
Nor their daughters-in-law for committing adultery;
For they themselves j-turn aside-j with whores
And sacrifice with prostitutes,
And a people that is without sensek must stumble.
15If you are a lecher, Israel—
Let not Judah incur guilt—
Do not come to Gilgal,l
Do not make pilgrimages to Beth-aven,m
And do not swear by the LORD!n
16Ah, Israel has balked
Like a stubborn cow;
Therefore,
The LORD will graze him
On the range, like a sheep.o
17pEphraim is addicted to images—
Let him be.
18They drink to excess—
Their liquor turns against them.
They “love” beyond measure—
Disgrace is the “gift”
19Which the wind q-is bringing;-q
They shall garner shame from their sacrifices.
5
Hear this, O priests,
Attend, O Housea of Israel,
And give ear, O royal house;
For right conduct is your responsibility!
But you have been a snare to Mizpah
And a net spread out over Tabor;
2b-For when trappers dug deep pitfalls,
I was the only reprover of them all.-b
3Yes, I have watched Ephraim,
Israel has not escaped my notice:
Behold, you have fornicated, O Ephraim;
Israel has defiled himself!
4Their habits do not let them
Turn back to their God;
Because of the lecherous impulse within them,
They pay no heed to the LORD.
5c-Israel’s pride shall be humbled before his very eyes,
As Israel and Ephraim fall because of their sin
(And Judah falls with them).
6Then they will go with their sheep and cattle
To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him.-c
b-
e has cast them off:-b
7[Because] they have broken faith with the LORD,
Because d-they have-d begotten
Alien children.
Therefore, b-the new moon
Shall devour their portion.-b
8Sound a ram’s horn in Gibeah,
A trumpet in Ramah;
Give the alarm in Beth-aven;e
f-
After you,-f Benjamin!
9Ephraim is stricken with horror
On a day of chastisement.
Against the tribesg of Israel
I proclaim certainties:
10The officers of Judah have acted
Like shifters of field boundaries;
On them I will pour out
My wrath like water.
11Ephraim is defrauded,
Robbed of redress,
Because he has witlessly
Gone after futility.h
12For it is I who am like rot to Ephraim,
Like decay to the House of Judah;i
13Yet when Ephraim became aware of his sickness,
Judahi of his sores,
Ephraim repaired to Assyria—
He sent envoys to a patronj king!
He will never be able to cure you,
Will not heal you of your sores.
14No, I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
Like a great beast to the House of Judah;i
I, I will attack and stride away,
Carrying the prey that no one can rescue;
15And I will return to My abode—
Till they realize their guilt.
In their distress, they will seek Me
And beg for My favor.
6
a“Come, let us turn back to the LORD:
He attacked, and He can heal us;
He wounded, and He can bind us up.
2In two days He will make us whole again;
On the third day He will raise us up,
And we shall be whole by His favor.
3Let us pursue obedience to
