2:1 Then you will call ¹  your ²  brother, “My People” (Ammi)! You will call your sister, “Pity” (Ruhamah)!

2:2 Plead earnestly ³  with your ⁴  mother

(for ⁵  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),

so that ⁶  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ⁷ 

and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ⁸ 

2:3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked,

and expose her like she was when she was born.

I will turn her land into a wilderness

and make her country a parched land,

so that I might kill ⁹  her with thirst.

2:4 I will have no pity on her children, ¹⁰ 

because they are children conceived in adultery. ¹¹ 

2:5 For their mother has committed adultery;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, “I will seek out ¹²  my lovers; ¹³ 

they are the ones who give me my bread and my water,

my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine. ¹⁴ 

2:6 Therefore, I will soon ¹⁵  fence her in ¹⁶  with thorns;

I will wall her in ¹⁷  so that ¹⁸  she cannot find her way. ¹⁹ 

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ²⁰  them;

she will seek them, but she will not find them. ²¹ 

Then she will say,

“I will go back ²²  to my husband, ²³ 

because I was better off then than I am now.” ²⁴ 

2:8 Yet ²⁵  until now ²⁶  she has refused to acknowledge ²⁷  that I ²⁸  was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and that it was I who ²⁹  lavished on her the silver and gold –

which they ³⁰  used in worshiping Baal! ³¹ 

2:9 Therefore, I will take back ³²  my grain during the harvest time ³³ 

and my new wine when it ripens; ³⁴ 

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided ³⁵  in order to clothe her. ³⁶ 

2:10 Soon ³⁷  I will expose her lewd nakedness ³⁸  in front of her lovers,

and no one will be able to rescue her from me! ³⁹ 

2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:

her annual religious festivals,

monthly new moon celebrations,

and weekly Sabbath festivities –

all her appointed festivals.

2:12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,

about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ⁴⁰ 

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ⁴¹  into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals ⁴²  will devour them.

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days

when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ⁴³ 

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but ⁴⁴  she forgot me!” ⁴⁵  says the Lord.

2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; ⁴⁶ 

I will lead ⁴⁷  her back into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,

and turn the “Valley of Trouble” ⁴⁸  into an “Opportunity ⁴⁹  for Hope.”

There she will sing as she did when she was young, ⁵⁰ 

when ⁵¹  she came up from the land of Egypt.

2:16 “At that time,” ⁵²  declares the Lord,

“you will call, ⁵³  ‘My husband’; ⁵⁴ 

you will never again call me, ⁵⁵  ‘My master.’ ⁵⁶ 

2:17 For ⁵⁷  I will remove the names of the Baal idols ⁵⁸  from your lips, ⁵⁹ 

so that you will never again utter their names!” ⁶⁰ 

2:18 “At that time ⁶¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals,

the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.

I will abolish ⁶²  the warrior’s bow and sword

– that is, every weapon of warfare ⁶³  – from the land,

and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁶⁴ 

2:19 I will commit myself to you ⁶⁵  forever;

I will commit myself to you in ⁶⁶  righteousness and justice,

in steadfast love and tender compassion.

2:20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness;

then ⁶⁷  you will acknowledge ⁶⁸  the Lord.” ⁶⁹ 

2:21 “At that time, ⁷⁰  I will willingly respond,” ⁷¹  declares the Lord.

“I will respond to the sky,

and the sky ⁷²  will respond to the ground;

2:22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ⁷³ 

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ⁷⁴  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ⁷⁵  will say, ‘You are ⁷⁶  my God!’”