“But you—come here, you children of a sorceress,(A)
    you offspring of adulterers(B) and prostitutes!(C)
Who are you mocking?
    At whom do you sneer
    and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,(D)
    the offspring of liars?
You burn with lust among the oaks(E)
    and under every spreading tree;(F)
you sacrifice your children(G) in the ravines
    and under the overhanging crags.
The idols(H) among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
    indeed, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings(I)
    and offered grain offerings.
    In view of all this, should I relent?(J)
You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;(K)
    there you went up to offer your sacrifices.(L)
Behind your doors and your doorposts
    you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
    you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,(M)
    and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.(N)
You went to Molek[a](O) with olive oil
    and increased your perfumes.(P)
You sent your ambassadors[b](Q) far away;
    you descended to the very realm of the dead!(R)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 57:9 Or to the king
  2. Isaiah 57:9 Or idols

20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke(A)
    and tore off your bonds;(B)
    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’(C)
Indeed, on every high hill(D)
    and under every spreading tree(E)
    you lay down as a prostitute.(F)

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“Look up to the barren heights(A) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside(B) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land(C)
    with your prostitution(D) and wickedness.

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Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land(A) and committed adultery(B) with stone(C) and wood.(D)

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27 your adulteries and lustful neighings,
    your shameless prostitution!(A)
I have seen your detestable acts
    on the hills and in the fields.(B)
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
    How long will you be unclean?”(C)

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They became prostitutes in Egypt,(A) engaging in prostitution(B) from their youth.(C) In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.(D)

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[a]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’(A)

Israel Punished and Restored

“Rebuke your mother,(B) rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous(C) look from her face
    and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
Otherwise I will strip(D) her naked
    and make her as bare as on the day she was born;(E)
I will make her like a desert,(F)
    turn her into a parched land,
    and slay her with thirst.
I will not show my love to her children,(G)
    because they are the children of adultery.(H)
Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,(I)
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’(J)
Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.(K)
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.(L)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband(M) as at first,(N)
    for then I was better off(O) than now.’
She has not acknowledged(P) that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,(Q)
who lavished on her the silver and gold(R)
    which they used for Baal.(S)

“Therefore I will take away my grain(T) when it ripens,
    and my new wine(U) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose(V) her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;(W)
    no one will take her out of my hands.(X)
11 I will stop(Y) all her celebrations:(Z)
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.(AA)
12 I will ruin her vines(AB) and her fig trees,(AC)
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;(AD)
I will make them a thicket,(AE)
    and wild animals will devour them.(AF)
13 I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense(AG) to the Baals;(AH)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,(AI)
    and went after her lovers,(AJ)
    but me she forgot,(AK)
declares the Lord.(AL)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1-23 is numbered 2:3-25.

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