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That give me my bread and my water,

My wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.'

⁸Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns,

And I will make a wall against her,

That she shall not find her paths.

⁹And she shall run 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.'

¹⁰For she did not know that it was I that gave her

The corn, and the wine, and the oil,

And multiplied unto her silver and gold,

Which they used for Baal.

¹¹Therefore will I take back My corn in the time thereof,

And My wine in the season thereof,

And will snatch away My wool and My flax

Given to cover her nakedness.

¹²And now will I uncover her shame in the sight of her lovers,

And none shall deliver her out of My hand.

¹³I will also cause all her mirth to cease,

Her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths,

And all her appointed seasons.

¹⁴And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees,

Whereof she hath said: 'These are my hire

That my lovers have given me';

And I will make them a forest,

And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

¹⁵And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim,

Wherein she offered unto them,

And decked herself with her earrings and her jewels,

And went after her lovers,

And forgot Me, saith the Lord.

¹⁶Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

And bring her into the wilderness,

And speak tenderly unto her.

¹⁷And I will give her her vineyards from thence,

And the valley of ^[1]Achor for a door of hope;

And she shall respond there, as in the days of her youth,

And as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

 

¹⁸And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord,

That thou shalt call Me ^[2]Ishi,

And shalt call Me no more ^[3]Baali.

¹⁹For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth,

And they shall no more be mentioned by their name.

²⁰And 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 land,

And will make them to lie down safely.

²¹And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever;

Yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in justice,

And in lovingkindness, and in compassion.

²²And I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness;

And thou shalt know the Lord.

 

1. That is, Troubling.
2. That is, My husband.
3. That is, My master.

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