GOD'S WORD Translation GW
New King James Version NKJV
1 "So call your brothers Ammi [My People], and call your sisters Ruhamah [Loved].
1 Say to your brethren, 'My people,' And to your sisters, 'Mercy is shown.'
2 "Plead with your mother; plead with her. She no longer acts like my wife. She no longer treats me like her husband. Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute. Tell her to remove the lovers from between her breasts.
2 Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 If she refuses, I will strip her. I will leave her as naked as the day she was born. I will turn her into a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst.
3 Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.
4 I won't love her children, because they are children of a prostitute.
4 "I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry.
5 Their mother acted like a prostitute. The woman who became pregnant with them did shameful things. She said, 'I'll chase after my lovers. They will give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine.'
5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.'
6 "That is why I will block her way with thornbushes and build a wall so that she can't get through.
6 "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And wall her in, So that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will run after her lovers, but she won't catch them. She will search for them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, 'I'll go back to my first husband. Things were better for me than they are now.'
7 She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.'
8 "She doesn't believe that I gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil. I gave her plenty of silver and gold, but she used it to make statues of Baal.
8 For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold-- Which they prepared for Baal.
9 That is why I will take back my grain when it has ripened and my new wine when it's in season. I will take away the wool and the linen that I gave her to cover her naked body.
9 "Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to cover her nakedness.
10 I will show her naked body to her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my power.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
11 I will put an end to all her celebrations: her annual festivals, her New Moon Festivals, her weekly worship days--all her appointed festivals.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths-- All her appointed feasts.
12 I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees. She said that they were gifts from her lovers. I will turn her vineyards into a forest, and wild animals will devour them.
12 "And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Of which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' So I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 I will punish her for all the times she burned incense as an offering to other gods--the Baals. She put on her rings and jewelry, and she chased after her lovers. She forgot me," declares the LORD.
13 I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot," says the Lord.
14 "That is why I'm going to win her back. I will lead her into the desert. I will speak tenderly to her.
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.
15 I will give her vineyards there. I will make the valley of Achor [Disaster] a door of hope. Then she will respond as she did when she was young, as she did when she came out of Egypt.
15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 "On that day she will call me her husband," declares the LORD. "She will no longer call me her master.
16 "And it shall be, in that day," Says the Lord, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,'
17 I won't allow her to say the names of other gods called Baal. She will never again call out their names.
17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
18 "On that day I will make an arrangement with the wild animals, the birds, and the animals that crawl on the ground. I will destroy all the bows, swords, and weapons of war, so people can live safely.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.
19 "Israel, I will make you my wife forever. I will be honest and faithful to you. I will show you my love and compassion.
19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will be true to you, my wife. Then you will know the LORD.
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord.
21 "On that day I will answer your [prayers]," declares the LORD. "I will speak to the sky, it will speak to the earth,
21 "It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer," says the Lord; "I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.
22 and the earth will produce grain, new wine, and olive oil. You will produce many crops, Jezreel.
22 The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel.
23 I will plant my people in the land. Those who are not loved I will call my loved ones. Those who are not my people I will call my people. Then they will say, 'You are our God!'"
23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.