1So call your fellow-Israelites “God's People” and “Loved-by-the-Lord”.

Unfaithful Gomer — Unfaithful Israel

2My children, plead with your mother — though she is no longer a wife to me, and I am no longer her husband. Plead with her to stop her adultery and prostitution. 3If she does not, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will make her like a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst. 4-5I will not show mercy to her children; they are the children of a shameless prostitute.2.4–5 the children of a shameless prostitute; or as shameless as their mother, a prostitute. She herself said, “I will go to my lovers — they give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine.”

6So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall to block her way. 7She 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.”

8She would never acknowledge that I am the one who gave her the corn, the wine, the olive oil, and all the silver and gold that she used in the worship of Baal. 9So at harvest time I will take back my gifts of corn and wine, and will take away the wool and the linen I gave her for clothing. 10I will strip her naked in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to save her from my power. 11I will put an end to all her festivities — her annual and monthly festivals and her Sabbath celebrations — all her religious meetings. 12I will destroy her grapevines and her fig trees, which she said her lovers gave her for serving them. I will turn her vineyards and orchards into a wilderness; wild animals will destroy them. 13I will punish her for the times that she forgot me when she burnt incense to Baal and put on her jewellery to go chasing after her lovers. The LORD has spoken.

The LORD's Love for his People

14So I am going to take her into the desert again; there I will win her back with words of love. 152.15: Josh 7.24–26I will give back to her the vineyards she had and make Trouble Valley a door of hope. She will respond to me there as she did when she was young, when she came from Egypt. 16Then once again she will call me her husband — she will no longer call me her Baal.2.16 Baal: This title of the Canaanite god means “Lord”; another meaning of the word is “husband”. 17I will never let her speak the name of Baal again.

18At that time I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and birds, so that they will not harm my people. I will also remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, and will let my people live in peace and safety.

19Israel, I will make you my wife;

I will be true and faithful;

I will show you constant love and mercy

and make you mine for ever.

20I will keep my promise and make you mine,

and you will acknowledge me as LORD.

21-22At that time I will answer the prayers of my people Israel.2.21–22 Israel: The Hebrew text here refers to Israel as Jezreel (see 1.4, 11).

I will make rain fall on the earth,

and the earth will produce corn and grapes and olives.

232.23: Rom 9.25; 1 Pet 2.10I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper.

I will show love to those who were called “Unloved”,

and to those who were called “Not-my-People”

I will say, “You are my people,”

and they will answer, “You are our God.”