1 Say unto your brethren Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.2 Plead with your mother, plead; 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;3 lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her as a dry land, and slay her with thirst.4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are the children of whoredoms.5 For 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.6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns; and I will fence {her} in with a wall, that she shall not find her paths.7 And she shall pursue after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, and shall not find them: and she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now.8 And she did not know that I had given her the corn and the new wine and the oil, and had multiplied to her the silver and gold, which they employed for Baal.9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my new wine in its season, and will withdraw my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.10 And now will I discover her impiety in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.11 And I will cause all her mirth to cease: her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths! and all her solemnities.12 And I will make desolate her vine and her fig-tree, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards which my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.13 And I will visit upon her the days of the Baals, wherein she burned incense to them, and decked herself with her rings and jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith Jehovah.14 Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart.15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.16 And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah, {that} thou shalt call me, My husband, and shalt call me no more, Baali;17 for I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.18 And I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will break bow and sword and battle out of the land; and I will make them to lie down safely.19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; and I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies;20 and I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know Jehovah.21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;22 and the earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel.23 And I will sow her unto me in the land; and I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhamah; and I will say to Lo-ammi, Thou art my people; and they shall say, My God.

1 Twis met julle moeder, twis; want sy is nie my vrou nie, en Ek is nie haar man nie, en laat sy haar hoerery van haar aangesig verwyder en haar owerspel van haar borste af weg.2 Anders sal Ek haar naak uittrek en haar neersit soos op die dag van haar geboorte en haar maak soos 'n woestyn, ja, haar stel soos 'n dor land en haar van dors laat sterwe.3 En Ek sal My oor haar kinders nie ontferm nie, want hulle is kinders uit hoerery gebore.4 Want hulle moeder het in ontug gelewe, sy wat met hulle swanger was, het skandelike dinge gedoen; want sy het gesê: Ek wil my minnaars agternaloop wat my brood en my water, my wol en my vlas, my olie en my drank gee.5 Daarom, kyk, Ek sal jou weg met dorings toemaak en om haar 'n muur bou, sodat sy haar paaie nie sal vind nie.6 En sy sal haar minnaars agternaloop, maar hulle nie inhaal nie; en sy sal hulle soek, maar nie vind nie. Dan sal sy sê: Ek wil heengaan en terugkeer na my vorige man, want toe het ek dit beter gehad as nou.7 Ja, sy het nie erken dat Ek aan haar die koring en die mos en die olie gegee het nie, ook silwer vir haar vermenigvuldig het en goud, wat hulle vir Ba„l gebruik het.8 Daarom sal Ek my koring terugneem in die oestyd en my mos op die bepaalde tyd, en wegneem my wol en my vlas wat dien om haar naaktheid te bedek.9 Ek sal dan nou haar skaamte ontbloot voor die oë van haar minnaars, en niemand sal haar uit my hand red nie.10 En Ek maak 'n einde aan al haar vreugde, haar feeste, haar nuwemane en haar sabbatte, ja, aan al haar feestye.11 En Ek sal haar wingerdstok en haar vyeboom verwoes waarvan sy gesê het: Hierdie dinge is my hoereloon wat my minnaars my gegee het; en Ek sal dit tot 'n bos maak, en die wilde diere van die veld sal dit opeet.12 So besoek Ek dan aan haar die dae van die Ba„ls toe sy vir hulle offerrook laat opgaan het en haar met haar neusring en haar halssierade versier en haar minnaars agternageloop het; maar My het sy vergeet, spreek die HERE.13 Daarom, kyk, Ek sal haar lok en haar in die woestyn lei en na haar hart spreek.14 Dan sal Ek haar daarvandaan haar wingerde gee en die dal Agor tot 'n deur van hoop, en daar sal sy antwoord gee soos in die dae van haar jeug en soos die dag toe sy uit Egipteland opgetrek het.15 En in die dag, spreek die HERE, sal jy My noem: My man; en jy sal my nie meer noem: My Ba„l nie.16 Dan verwyder Ek die name van die Ba„ls uit haar mond, sodat hulle by hul naam nie meer genoem sal word nie.17 Verder sluit Ek in die dag vir hulle 'n verbond met die wilde diere van die veld en met die voëls van die hemel en die kruipende diere van die aarde; ja, boog en swaard en oorlog sal Ek verbreek uit die land, en Ek sal hulle in veiligheid laat rus.18 En Ek sal My met jou verloof tot in ewigheid en My met jou verloof in geregtigheid en in reg en in goedertierenheid en in ontferming.19 En Ek sal My met jou verloof in trou; dan sal jy die HERE ken.20 En in die dag sal Ek verhoor, spreek die HERE, Ek sal die hemel verhoor en die sal die aarde verhoor.21 En die aarde sal die koring verhoor en die mos en die olie, en die sal J¡sreël verhoor.22 En Ek sal haar vir My saai in die land en My oor Lo-Rug ma ontferm, en aan Lo-Ammi sê: Jy is my volk; en hy sal sê: My God!