Hosea 2:8-13

Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel

2:8 Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold –

which they used in worshiping Baal!

2:9 Therefore, I will take back my grain during the harvest time

and my new wine when it ripens;

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided in order to clothe her.

2:10 Soon I will expose her lewd nakedness in front of her lovers,

and no one will be able to rescue her from me!

2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:

her annual religious festivals,

monthly new moon celebrations,

and weekly Sabbath festivities –

all her appointed festivals.

2:12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,

about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals will devour them.

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days

when she burned incense to the Baal idols;

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but she forgot me!” says the Lord.