Study Desk

Say to your brothers, "Ammi," and to your sisters, "Ruhamah."

Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

"Dispute with your mother, dispute, Because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; But she must remove her infidelity from her face And her adultery from between her breasts,

Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Otherwise, I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And put her to death with thirst.

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 like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

"Also, I will take no pity on her children, Because they are children of infidelity.

And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.

"For their mother has committed prostitution; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'

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.

"Therefore, behold, I will obstruct her way with thorns, And I will build a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

"And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my first husband, Because it was better for me then than now!'

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

"Yet she does not know that it was I myself who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal.

For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

"Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax That I gave to cover her nakedness.

Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

"So now I will uncover her lewdness Before the eyes of her lovers, And no one will rescue her from My hand.

And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

"I will also put an end to all her joy, Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, And all her festivals.

I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

"And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, Of which she said, 'They are my wages for prostitution Which my lovers have given me.' And I will turn them into a forest, And the animals of the field will devour them.

And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

"I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her nose ring and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me," declares the LORD.

And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord .

"Therefore, behold, I am going to persuade her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

"Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will respond there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she went up from the land of Egypt.

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.

"And it will come about on that day," declares the LORD, "That you will call Me my husband And no longer call Me my Baal.

And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord , that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

"For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will no longer be mentioned by their names.

For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

"On that day I will also make a covenant for them With the animals of the field, The birds of the sky, And the crawling things of the ground. And I will eliminate the bow, the sword, and war from the land, And will let them lie down in safety.

And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

"I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In favor and in compassion,

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.

I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord .

"And it will come about on that day that I will respond," declares the LORD. "I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,

And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord , I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

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

And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

"I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they will say, 'You are my God!'"

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.