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4-5 I will not show mercy to her children; they are the children of a shameless prostitute.[a] She herself said, “I will go to my lovers—they give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine.”

So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall to block her way. She will run after her lovers but will not catch them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, “I am going back to my first husband—I was better off then than I am now.”

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 2:4 the children of a shameless prostitute; or as shameless as their mother, a prostitute.

Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,(A)
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’(B)
Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.(C)
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.(D)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband(E) as at first,(F)
    for then I was better off(G) than now.’

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