1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)
The Geneva Bible: A Cornerstone of English Protestantism A Testament to Reform The 1599 Geneva Bible... Read More
2 Then you will call[a] your[b] brother, “My People” (Ammi)! You will call your sister, “Pity” (Ruhamah)!
2 “Plead earnestly[c] with your[d] mother
(for[e] she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),
so that[f] she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle,[g]
and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.[h]
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[i] her with thirst.
4 I will have no pity on her children,[j]
because they are children conceived in adultery.[k]
5 For their mother has committed adultery;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will seek out[l] my lovers;[m]
they are the ones who give me my bread and my water,
my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.[n]
6 “Therefore, I will soon[o] fence her in[p] with thorns;
I will wall her in[q] so that[r] she cannot find her way.[s]
7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch[t] them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them.[u]
Then she will say,
‘I will go back[v] to my husband,[w]
because I was better off then than I am now.’[x]
8 “Yet[y] until now[z] she has refused to acknowledge[aa] that I[ab] was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who[ac] lavished on her the silver and gold—
that they[ad] used in worshiping Baal![ae]
9 Therefore, I will take back[af] my grain during the harvest time[ag]
and my new wine when it ripens;[ah]
I will take away my wool and my flax
that I had provided[ai] in order to clothe her.[aj]
10 Soon[ak] I will expose her lewd nakedness[al] in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me![am]
11 I will put an end to all her celebrations:
her annual religious festivals,
monthly new moon celebrations,
and weekly Sabbath festivities—
all her appointed festivals.
12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
about which she said, ‘These are my wages for prostitution[an]
that my lovers gave to me!’
I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees[ao] into an uncultivated thicket,
so that wild animals[ap] will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the festival days
when she burned incense to the Baal idols;[aq]
she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but[ar] she forgot me!”[as] says the Lord.
14 “However, in the future I will allure her;[at]
I will lead[au] her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,
and turn the ‘Valley of Trouble’[av] into an ‘Opportunity[aw] for Hope.’
There she will sing as she did when she was young,[ax]
when[ay] she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 At that time,”[az] declares the Lord,
“you will call,[ba] ‘My husband’;[bb]
you will never again call me,[bc] ‘My master.’[bd]
17 For[be] I will remove the names of the Baal idols[bf] from your lips,[bg]
so that you will never again utter their names![bh]
18 “At that time[bi] 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[bj] the warrior’s bow and sword—
that is, every weapon of warfare[bk]—from the land,
and I will allow them to live securely.[bl]
19 I will commit myself to you[bm] forever;
I will commit myself to you in[bn] righteousness and justice,
in steadfast love and tender compassion.
20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness;
then[bo] you will acknowledge[bp] the Lord.[bq]
21 “At that time,[br] I will willingly respond,”[bs] declares the Lord.
“I will respond to the sky,
and the sky[bt] will respond to the ground;
22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)![bu]
23 Then I will plant her as my own[bv] 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[bw] will say, ‘You are[bx] my God!’”