2 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

2Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. 4Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom; 5for their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. 6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths. 7And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

8For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9Therefore will I take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10And now will I uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. 11I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 12And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.

14Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali. 17For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. 18And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. 19And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah.

21And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth; 22and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Jezreel. 23And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

3 And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins. 2So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley; 3and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man’s wife: so will I also be toward thee. 4For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim: 5afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.

4 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 3Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove; for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5And thou shalt stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night; and I will destroy thy mother.

6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children. 7As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. 8They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. 9And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings. 10And they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall play the harlot, and shall not increase; because they have left off taking heed to Jehovah.

11Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the understanding. 12My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God. 13They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes; and the people that doth not understand shall be overthrown.

15Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As Jehovah liveth. 16For Israel hath behaved himself stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer: now will Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place. 17Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone. 18Their drink is become sour; they play the harlot continually; her rulers dearly love shame. 19The wind hath wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices.

5 Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for unto you pertaineth the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all. 3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O Ephraim, thou hast played the harlot, Israel is defiled. 4Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah. 5And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them. 6They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find him: he hath withdrawn himself from them. 7They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.

8Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind thee, O Benjamin. 9Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10The princes of Judah are like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after man’s command. 12Therefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. 13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. 14For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver. 15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.

6 Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.

4O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away. 5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. 7But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is stained with blood. 9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness. 10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for thee, when I bring back the captivity of my people.