rsv Hosea:2:2-23 SEEK
Seeker Overlay ON
* "
Plead with your mother ,
plead --
for she is not my wife ,
and I am not her husband--that she put away her harlotry from her face ,
and her adultery from between her breasts ;
*
lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born ,
and make her like a wilderness ,
and set her like a parched land ,
and slay her with thirst .
*
Upon her children also I will have no pity ,
because they are children of harlotry .
*
For their mother has played the harlot ;
she that conceived them has acted shamefully .
For she said , `
I will go after my lovers ,
who give me my bread and my water ,
my wool and my flax ,
my oil and my drink .'
*
Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns ;
and I will build a wall against her ,
so that she cannot find her paths .
*
She shall pursue her lovers ,
but not overtake them ;
and she shall seek them ,
but shall not find them .
Then she shall say , `
I will go and return to my first husband ,
for it was better with me then than now .'
*
And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain ,
the wine ,
and the oil ,
and who lavished upon her silver and gold which they used for Ba '
al .
*
Therefore I will take back my grain in its time ,
and my wine in its season ;
and I will take away my wool and my flax ,
which were to cover her nakedness .
*
Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers ,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand .
*
And I will put an end to all her mirth ,
her feasts ,
her new moons ,
her sabbaths ,
and all her appointed feasts .
*
And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees ,
of which she said , `
These are my hire ,
which my lovers have given me .'
I will make them a forest ,
and the beasts of the field shall devour them .
*
And I will punish her for the feast days of the Ba '
als when she burned incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry ,
and went after her lovers ,
and forgot me ,
says the LORD .
* "
Therefore ,
behold ,
I will allure her ,
and bring her into the wilderness ,
and speak tenderly to her .
*
And there I will give her her vineyards ,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope .
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth ,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt .
* "
And in that day ,
says the LORD ,
you will call me , `
My husband ,'
and no longer will you call me , `
My Ba '
al .'
*
For I will remove the names of the Ba '
als from her mouth ,
and they shall be mentioned by name no more .
*
And I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field ,
the birds of the air ,
and the creeping things of the ground ;
and I will abolish the bow ,
the sword ,
and war from the land ;
and I will make you lie down in safety .
*
And I will betroth you to me for ever ;
I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice ,
in steadfast love ,
and in mercy .
*
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness ;
and you shall know the LORD .
* "
And in that day ,
says the LORD ,
I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth ;
*
and the earth shall answer the grain ,
the wine ,
and the oil ,
and they shall answer Jezreel ;
*
and I will sow him for myself in the land .
And I will have pity on Not pitied ,
and I will say to Not my people , `
You are my people ';
and he shall say `
Thou art my God .'"