Study Desk

Rebuke your mother; rebuke her.^(a) For she is not My wife and I am not her husband.^(b) Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face^(c) and her adultery from between her breasts.

Otherwise, I will strip her naked^(d) and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert^(e) and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.^(f)

I will have no compassion on her children^(g) because they are the children of promiscuity.

Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully.^(h) For she thought, "I will go after my lovers,⁽ⁱ⁾ the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink."^(j)

Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her^[c] way^(k) with thorns;^(l) I will enclose her with a wall, so that she cannot find her paths.^(m)

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;⁽ⁿ⁾ she will seek them but not find them. Then she will think, "I will go back to my former husband,^(o) for then it was better for me than now."^(p)

She does not recognize^(q) that it is I who gave her the grain,^(r) the new wine, and the oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, which they used for Baal.

Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time^(s) and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were to cover her nakedness.

Now I will expose her shame^(t) in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from My hands.

I will put an end to all her celebrations:^(u) her feasts,^(v) New Moons,^(w) and Sabbaths— all her festivals.

I will devastate her vines and fig trees.^(x) She thinks that these are her wages that her lovers have given her. I will turn them into a thicket,^(y) and the wild animals will eat them.^(z)

And I will punish her for the days of the Baals^(aa) when she burned incense to them,^(ab) put on her rings and jewelry,^(ac) and went after her lovers, but forgot Me.^(ad) This is the Lord 's declaration.

Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness,^(ae) and speak tenderly to her.^[d]

There I will give her vineyards back to her^(af) and make the Valley of Achor^[e](ag) into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth,^(ah) as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

In that day— this is the Lord 's declaration— you will call Me, "My husband,"^(ai) and no longer call Me, "My Baal."^[f]

For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names.

On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.^(aj) I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land^[g](ak) and will enable the people to rest securely.^(al)

I will take you to be My wife forever.^(am) I will take you to be My wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion.^(an)

I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness, and you will know Yahweh.^(ao)

On that day I will respond^(ap)— this is the Lord 's declaration. I will respond to the sky, and it will respond to the earth.

The earth will respond to the grain,^(aq) the new wine, and the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

I will sow her^[h] in the land for Myself,^(ar) and I will have compassion^(as) on No Compassion; I will say^(at) to Not My People:^(au) You are My people,^(av) and he will say, "You are My God."