Israel’s Adultery Rebuked 1 UST { Yahweh also said},“At that time, you will say to your fellow Israelite men,‘Ammi, you are God’ s people,’ and{ you will say} to your fellow Israelite women,‘Ruhamah, you are ones whom God loves.’” BSB BSB: “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
2 UST Children, dispute earnestly with your mother, because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to stop her sexually immoral behavior and to stop being unfaithful to me. BSB BSB: Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 UST Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as on the day she was born. I will make her as bare as a wilderness. I will cause her to become as dry as a desert, and I will let her die of thirst. BSB BSB: Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.
4 UST I will not pity her children, because they are as unfaithful as their prostitute mother. BSB BSB: I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery.
5 UST I say this because she has been unfaithful to me and has acted shamefully. Indeed, she said,“I will run to the ones who love me; they are the ones who give me my food and water, my wool and linen, my olive oil and my{ wine to} drink.” BSB BSB: For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’
6 UST So{ I am about to do things that will be as though} I am blocking her road with thorn-bushes and building a wall in her way so that she does not know what to do. BSB BSB: Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.
7 UST She will repeatedly seek the ones that{ she thinks} love her, but she will not find them. Then she will think,“Perhaps I should return to my actual husband, because I was better off then than I am now.” BSB BSB: She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’
9 UST Therefore, I will come back and take my grain from them when it is ripe and the juice of my grapes in their season. I will take from them the wool and linen that I gave to them to cover their bodies. BSB BSB: Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness.
10 UST Now I will expose how shameful they have been in front of those{ gods} that they think love them. No one will be able to rescue them when I punish them. BSB BSB: And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.
11 UST I will stop all of their celebrations: their yearly feasts, their new moon festivals, their Sabbath days, and all of their{ other} regular festivals. BSB BSB: I will put an end to all her exultation: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.
12 UST I will destroy all their grapevines and fig trees, which they said were payments to them from those{ gods} who loved them. I will turn those productive plants into a wild thicket, and wild animals will eat the fruit{ that remains}. BSB BSB: I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.
13 UST I will punish them for all the times that they burned incense to honor the various Baals. They decorated themselves with rings and other jewelry and went to worship those{ false gods} that they thought loved them, but they forgot about me!— this is what Yahweh declares. BSB BSB: I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
God’s Mercy to Israel 15 UST I will give their vineyards back to them from that{ starting} point, and I will cause the Valley of Achor{, instead of a place of trouble,} to become a place where they will confidently expect{ me to do} good things{ for them}. They will respond to me there{ willingly} as they did long ago, when I freed them from{ being slaves in} Egypt. BSB BSB: There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
17 UST I will not allow them to speak the names of the Baals, and they will never use those names again. BSB BSB: For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.
18 UST At that time I will make an agreement for them with the wild animals, the birds, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will also remove weapons of war such as bows and swords from the land. The result will be that my people will be able to live safely and peacefully. BSB BSB: On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.
20 UST I will be faithful to them, and they will truly know me, Yahweh. BSB BSB: And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.”
21 UST At that time,{ when they ask for what they need}, I will respond— this is what Yahweh declares— I will tell the heavens to send rain, and on their part, the heavens will water the earth. BSB BSB: “On that day I will respond—” declares the LORD—“I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth.
22 UST Then the earth will produce grain, new wine, and olive oil, and those things will provide for{ my people,} Jezreel. BSB BSB: And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 UST I will establish them in the land as my own. I will pity Lo Ruhama, and I will say to{ those whom I called} Lo Ammi,“You are my people,” and they, yes, they will say{ to me},“You are our God.” BSB BSB: And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.