"For their motherhas playedthe harlot;She who conceivedthem has actedshamefully.For she said,I will goaftermy lovers,Who give[me] my breadand my water,My wooland my flax,my oiland my drink.'
Howthe faithfulcityhas becomea harlot,She [who] was fullof justice!Righteousnessonce lodgedin her, But nowmurderers.
Thussaysthe LORD,"Whereis the certificateof divorceBy whichI have sentyour motheraway?Orto whomof My creditorsdid I sellyou? Behold,you were soldfor your iniquities,And for your transgressionsyour motherwas sentaway.
"For your godsare as manyas your cities,O Judah;and as manyas the streetsof Jerusalemare the altarsyou have setup to the shamefulthing,altarsto burnincenseto Baal.
"Ifyou sayin your heart,Whyhave thesethingshappenedto me?' Because of the magnitudeof your iniquityYour skirtshave been removedAnd your heelshave been exposed.
"For longagoI brokeyour yoke[And] toreoffyour bonds;But you said,'I will not serve!'For on everyhighhillAnd undereverygreentreeYou have laindownas a harlot.
"Be warned,O Jerusalem,OrI shall be alienatedfrom you, And makeyou a desolation,A landnot inhabited."
Therefore,O harlot,hearthe wordof the LORD.
"I will also giveyou into the handsof your lovers, and they will teardownyour shrines,demolishyour highplaces,stripyou of your clothing,takeaway your jewels,and will leaveyou nakedand bare.
"As for your birth,on the dayyou were bornyour navelcordwas not cut,norwere you washedwith waterfor cleansing;you were not rubbedwith saltor even wrappedin cloths.
When the LORDfirstspokethrough Hosea,the LORDsaidto Hosea,"Go,taketo yourself a wifeof harlotryand [have] childrenof harlotry;for the landcommitsflagrantharlotry,forsakingthe LORD."
"Contendwith your mother,contend,For she is not my wife,and I am not her husband;And let her putawayher harlotryfrom her faceAnd her adulteryfrom betweenher breasts,
"For she does not knowthat it was I who gaveher the grain,the newwineand the oil,And lavishedon her silverand gold,[Which] they usedfor Baal.
Then the LORDsaidto me, "Goagain,lovea woman[who] is lovedby [her] husband,yet an adulteress,even as the LORDlovesthe sonsof Israel,though they turnto othergodsand loveraisincakes."
So you will stumbleby day,And the prophetalsowill stumblewith you by night;And I will destroyyour mother.
For they have goneup to Assyria,[Like] a wilddonkeyall alone;Ephraimhas hiredlovers.
I foundIsraellike grapesin the wilderness;I sawyour forefathersas the earliestfruiton the figtreein its first[season]. [But] they cameto Baal-peorand devotedthemselves to shame,And they becameas detestableas that whichthey loved.
"In that daythe beautifulvirginsAnd the youngmenwill faintfrom thirst.
Now the lordsof the Philistinesassembledto offera greatsacrificeto Dagontheir god,and to rejoice,for they said,"Our godhas givenSamsonour enemyinto our hands."
