1“Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi’ (My people); and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah’ (My loved one). 2“Rebuke your mother, Israel. Rebuke her, for she is not My wife, nor am I her husband. Tell her to remove the makeup of a prostitute from her face, and garments that expose her breasts, 3Otherwise, I will strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her like a desert wilderness, and a parched dry land, and slay her with thirst. 4And I will not have compassion upon her children; for they are the children of harlotry. 5For their mother has been unfaithful. She has conceived them in disgrace; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food, drink, wool, flax, and oil.’ 6Therefore, I will block her path with thorns, and hedge her in, that she shall not find her way. 7And she shall pursue her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will return to my first husband; for it was better for me then than now.’ 8For she did not realize that it was I Who gave her everything she needed - grain, wine, oil, and much silver and gold, which she then gave to Baal. 9Therefore I will take away My grain when it is ripe, and My wine in its season, and My wool and My flax that I have given to cover her nakedness. 10And now I will expose her lewdness to all her lovers, and none shall rescue her from Me. 11I will also cause all her celebrations to end - her feast days, new moons, Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12And I will destroy her vines and fig trees that she has said were her rewards that her lovers have given her. And I will make her vines and fig trees a forest thicket, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13And I will punish her for the days that she burned incense to Baalim, and decked herself with her earrings and jewels, and pursued her lovers, and forgot Me”, says the LORD. 14“Therefore, I will now win her (Isarel) back once again, and lead her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15And I will give her back her vineyards, and make the valley of Achor a door of hope; and there she shall respond as in the days of her youth, and like the day when she came up out of Egypt. 16And on that day”, says the LORD, “She shall call Me Ishi (my husband); and shall no more call Me Baali (my master). 17For I will remove the names of Baalim (false gods) from her lips, and their names shall no more be remembered by her. 18And in that day will I make a covenant for her with the beasts of the field, birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, sword, and battle from land, and will cause her (Isarel) to live in safety. 19And I will make her My wife forever; yes, I will betroth her unto Me in righteousness, justice, loving-kindness, and compassion. 20I will even betroth her to Me (make her My wife) in faithfulness; and she shall know the LORD. 21And in that day”, says the LORD, “I will hear and respond from the heavens, and the heavens shall hear the earth; 22And the earth shall answer the thirsty calls from the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees; and they shall answer ‘Jezreel’, (‘God plants!’) 23And I will plant her for Myself in the land; and I will show love to the one I called ‘Not My loved one’, and mercy to her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people’; and they shall say, ‘You are my God.’” Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2024 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |