Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished
1 2:1 Ch 2:3 in Hebrew Say to your brothers, [ch. 1:9] "You are my people,"2:1 Hebrew ammi, which means my people and to your sisters, [ch. 1:6]"You have received mercy."2:1 Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy
2 "Plead with your mother, plead—
for [Isa. 50:1] she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away [ch. 4:12;Ezek. 16:25]her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest [Ezek. 16:39] I strip her naked
and make her as [Ezek. 16:4] in the day she was born,
and [ver. 9;Ezek. 19:13]make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 ch. 1:6Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
ch. 1:2because they are children of whoredom.
5 For [ch. 1:2] their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For [ver. 12, 13] she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who [ver. 8, 9;Jer. 44:17]give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore Job 3:23I will hedge up her2:6 Hebrew your way with thorns,
and [Job 19:8;Lam. 3:7,9]I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
[Luke 15:17,18] Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to [Isa. 54:5,6]my first husband,
[Luke 15:17,18] for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And [ver. 20; Isa. 1:3] she did not know
that it was [Ezek. 16:19] I who gave her
Deut. 7:13the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on ch. 13:2her silver and gold,
[Ezek. 16:17,18]which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore [ver. 3; Joel 1:10]I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and [ver. 3; Joel 1:10]I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now Lam. 1:8;Ezek. 16:37;23:29I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 [Jer. 7:34;Amos 8:10] And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her [Amos 8:5] new moons, her [Amos 8:5] Sabbaths,
and all her [ch. 9:5;Isa. 1:13,14]appointed feasts.
12 And [Isa. 5:5] I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
[ver. 5] of which she said,
‘These are [Mic. 1:7] my wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
[ch. 13:8]and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And [ch. 4:9] I will punish her for [ch. 11:2;13:1,2] the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and Ezek. 23:40;[Isa. 61:10]adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
The Lord’s Mercy on Israel
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and [Ezek. 20:35] bring her into the wilderness,
and Isa. 40:2speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26 a door of hope.
And there she shall answer [ch. 9:10;11:1;Jer. 2:2;Ezek. 16:22,60]as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 "And ver. 18, 21in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For Zeph. 1:4;Zech. 13:2;[Ex. 23:13]I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And Ezek. 34:25;[Job 5:23] I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And Ps. 46:9;Isa. 2:4;9:5;Ezek. 39:9,10I will abolish2:18 Hebrew break the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in Lev. 26:5;Jer. 23:6safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me [Ezek. 43:7] forever. [ver. 7, 16; Jer. 3:14,15;2 Cor. 11:2]I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 [See ver. 19above] I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And Jer. 31:34;John 17:3you shall know the Lord.
21 "And ver. 16in that day [Zech. 8:12]I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer [ch. 1:4,11]Jezreel,2:22 Jezreel means God will sow
23 and [ch. 1:10]; See Ezek. 36:9-11I will sow her for myself in the land.
And Cited Rom. 9:25,26I ch. 1:6will have mercy on No Mercy,2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama
and ch. 1:9;1 Pet. 2:10I will say to Not My People,2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammiver. 1; Zech. 13:9;See Lev. 26:12;Jer. 31:33‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’"