Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished
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"Plead with your mother, plead-- for 3she is not my wife, and I am not her husband-- that she put away 4her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;
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lest 5I strip her naked and make her as 6in the day she was born, and 7make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst.
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For 10their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For 11she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who 12give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'
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Therefore 13I will hedge up herd way with thorns, and 14I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
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She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. 15Then she shall say, 'I will go and return to 16my first husband, 17for it was better for me then than now.'
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And 18she did not know that it was 19I who gave her 20the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on 21her silver and gold, 22which they used for Baal.
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Therefore 23I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and 24I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
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Now 25I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
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26And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her 27new moons, her 28Sabbaths, and all her 29appointed feasts.
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And 30I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, 31of which she said, 'These are 32my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, 33and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
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And 34I will punish her for 35the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and 36adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the LORD.
The Lord's Mercy on Israel
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"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and 37bring her into the wilderness, and 38speak tenderly to her.
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And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achore a door of hope. And there she shall answer 39as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
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"And 40in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.'
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For 41I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.
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And 42I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And 43I will abolishf the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in 44safety.
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And I will betroth you to me 45forever. 46I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)