Hosea 2:6-11

The Lords Discipline Will Bring Israel Back

2:6 Therefore, I will soon fence her in with thorns;

I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them;

she will seek them, but she will not find them.

Then she will say,

“I will go back to my husband,

because I was better off then than I am now.”

Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel

2:8 Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold –

which they used in worshiping Baal!

2:9 Therefore, I will take back my grain during the harvest time

and my new wine when it ripens;

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided in order to clothe her.

2:10 Soon I will expose her lewd nakedness in front of her lovers,

and no one will be able to rescue her from me!

2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:

her annual religious festivals,

monthly new moon celebrations,

and weekly Sabbath festivities –

all her appointed festivals.