2:2 Plead earnestly ¹  with your ²  mother

(for ³  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),

so that ⁴  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ⁵ 

and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ⁶ 

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 ⁷  her with thirst.

2:4 I will have no pity on her children, ⁸ 

because they are children conceived in adultery. ⁹ 

2:5 For their mother has committed adultery;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, “I will seek out ¹⁰  my lovers; ¹¹ 

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

my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine. ¹² 

2:6 Therefore, I will soon ¹³  fence her in ¹⁴  with thorns;

I will wall her in ¹⁵  so that ¹⁶  she cannot find her way. ¹⁷ 

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ¹⁸  them;

she will seek them, but she will not find them. ¹⁹ 

Then she will say,

“I will go back ²⁰  to my husband, ²¹ 

because I was better off then than I am now.” ²² 

2:8 Yet ²³  until now ²⁴  she has refused to acknowledge ²⁵  that I ²⁶  was the one

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

and that it was I who ²⁷  lavished on her the silver and gold –

which they ²⁸  used in worshiping Baal! ²⁹ 

2:9 Therefore, I will take back ³⁰  my grain during the harvest time ³¹ 

and my new wine when it ripens; ³² 

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided ³³  in order to clothe her. ³⁴ 

2:10 Soon ³⁵  I will expose her lewd nakedness ³⁶  in front of her lovers,

and no one will be able to rescue her from me! ³⁷ 

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 ³⁸ 

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ³⁹  into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals ⁴⁰  will devour them.

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

when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ⁴¹ 

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but ⁴²  she forgot me!” ⁴³  says the Lord.