The Hebrew Prophets

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.

And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.

I will put an end to all her exultation: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths— all her appointed feasts.

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.

I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.

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.

In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’

For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.

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 weapons of war in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.

And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.”

“On that day I will respond—” declares the LORD— “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth.

And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

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.’”

Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.”

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.”

For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.

Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!

Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.

But let no man contend; let no man offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with a priest.

You will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you by night; so I will destroy your mother—