No Compassion for Children of Harlotry
1[†]Say to your brothers, “[†]Ammi,” and to your sisters, “[†]Ruhamah.”
2“Contend with your mother, contend,
For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband;
And let her remove her harlotry from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts,
3Lest I strip her naked
And set her forth as on the day when she was born
And make her like a wilderness
And[†]make her like dry land
And put her to death with thirst.
4Also, I will have no compassion on her children
Because they are children of harlotry.
5For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
Who giveme my bread and my water,
My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up[†]her way with thorns,
And I will build[†]a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.
7So she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;
And she will seek them, but will not findthem.
Then she will say, ‘I will go, and I will return to my first husband,
For it was better for me then than now!’
8“Now she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
And multiplied silver and gold for her,
Which they[†]used for Baal.
9Therefore, I will take back My grain at[†]harvest time
And My new wine in its season.
I will also deliver My wool and My flaxfrom them
Given to cover her nakedness.
10So now I will uncover her lewdness
In the sight of her lovers,
And no one will deliver her out of My hand.
11I will also cease all her joy,
Her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,
And all her appointed times.
12And I will make desolate her vines and fig trees,
Of which she said, ‘These are my wages
Which my lovers have given me.’
And I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field will devour them.
13So I will visit the days of the Baals upon her
When she used to[†]offerofferings in smoke to them
And adorn herself with her[†]earrings and jewelry
And go after her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares Yahweh.
Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal
14“Therefore, behold, I will allure her
And bring her into the wilderness
And speak to her heart.
15Then I will give her her vineyards from there
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will[†]sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,
“That you will call Me[†]Ishi
And will no longer call Me[†]Baali.
17So I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth
So that they will be remembered by their names no more.
18And in that day I will cut a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
The birds of the sky,
And the creeping things of the ground.
And I will break the bow, the sword, and war from the land,
And I will make them lie down in security.
19And I will betroth you to Me forever;
Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know Yahweh.
21“And it will be in that day,that I will answer,” declares Yahweh.
“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,
22And the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
And they will answer[†]Jezreel.
23And I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on[†]her who had not obtained compassion,
And I will say to[†]those who were not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And[†]they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
1 Ch 2:3 in Heb
1 Lit
my people1 Lit
she has obtained compassion3 Lit
set6 As in some ancient versions; Heb
your6 Lit
her wall so that8 Or
made into the9 Lit
its time13 Or
burn incense13 Or
nose rings15 Or
give answer16 Lit
my husband16 Lit
my master,
my Baal22 Lit
God sows23 Heb
Lo-ruhamah23 Heb
Lo-ammi23 Lit
he