וְהָיָה מִסְפַּר בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל כְּחוֹל הַיָּם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִמַּד וְלֹא יִסָּפֵר וְהָיָה בִּמְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר־יֵאָמֵר לָהֶם לֹא־עַמִּי אַתֶּם יֵאָמֵר לָהֶם בְּנֵי אֵל־חָי

However, at the time of the redemption, the number of the children of Israel will be vast, like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured and cannot be counted; it will come about that instead of it being said of them: You are not My people, in that era it will be said of them: You are the children of the living God.

וְנִקְבְּצוּ בְּנֵי־יְהוּדָה וּבְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל יַחְדָּו וְשָׂמוּ לָהֶם רֹאשׁ אֶחָד וְעָלוּ מִן־הָאָרֶץ כִּי גָדוֹל יוֹם יִזְרְעֶאל

The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be assembled together, and they will appoint themselves one head, a leader, and they will go up out of the land of their exile. Alternatively, they shall go up out of the Land of Israel to conquer the surrounding region, for great will be the day of Yizre’el. If Hosea’s first son, Yizre’el, symbolizes the scattering of the kingdom in exile, then a great day for Yizre’el will arrive in the future, when the nation will be gathered and sown [yizara] in its land.

אִמְרוּ לַאֲחֵיכֶם עַמִּי וְלַאֲחוֹתֵיכֶם רֻחָמָה

At that time, instead of calling them a name that means “not my people,” call your brethren Ami, My people, and your sisters, formerly called by a name meaning “shown no mercy,” you shall call Ruhama, which means “shown mercy.”

רִיבוּ בְאִמְּכֶם רִיבוּ כִּי־הִיא לֹא אִשְׁתִּי וְאָנֹכִי לֹא אִישָׁהּ וְתָסֵר זְנוּנֶיהָ מִפָּנֶיהָ וְנַאֲפוּפֶיהָ מִבֵּין שָׁדֶיהָ

All that is for the future, but in the meantime, the Father, God, says to these children: Contend with your mother, contend, as although she, this adulterous woman, who symbolizes the assembly of Israel, is your mother, she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove her licentiousness from before her and her adulteries from between her breasts. The nation must rid its national institutions and culture of idol worship and all treacherous acts, whether open or concealed,

פֶּן־אַפְשִׁיטֶנָּה עֲרֻמָּה וְהִצַּגְתִּיהָ כְּיוֹם הִוָּלְדָהּ וְשַׂמְתִּיהָ כַמִּדְבָּר וְשַׁתִּהָ כְּאֶרֶץ צִיָּה וַהֲמִתִּיהָ בַּצָּמָא

lest I strip her naked and present her naked, as on the day of her birth. I will make her like a wilderness and render her like an arid, desolate land, and I will kill her with thirst.

וְאֶת־בָּנֶיהָ לֹא אֲרַחֵם כִּי־בְנֵי זְנוּנִים הֵמָּה

I will not have mercy on her children, as they are children of licentiousness. On the one hand, Hosea instructs the children to reprove their mother and warn her of her downfall if she does not mend her ways. On the other hand, he warns the mother that if she fails to improve her behavior, the children themselves will suffer. Individuals must realize that punishment will affect every member of the nation, even those who themselves might be righteous.

כִּי זָנְתָה אִמָּם הֹבִישָׁה הוֹרָתָם כִּי אָמְרָה אֵלְכָה אַחֲרֵי מְאַהֲבַי נֹתְנֵי לַחְמִי וּמֵימַי צַמְרִי וּפִשְׁתִּי שַׁמְנִי וְשִׁקּוּיָי

For their mother committed licentiousness, she who conceived them acted shamefully, and has brought disgrace upon them through her behavior. For she said: I will follow my lovers, the various idols and gentile kingdoms, for it is they who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, the garments I wear, and my oil and my drink. My lovers provide me with all my necessities; therefore, what need have I of my husband? Israel is convinced that its political and business ties to the neighboring nations are the source of its success and that its salvation lies there.

לָכֵן הִנְנִי־שָׂךְ אֶת־דַּרְכֵּךְ בַּסִּירִים וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת־גְּדֵרָהּ ונְתִיבוֹתֶיהָ לֹא תִמְצָא

Therefore, behold, I am hedging your way to your lovers with thorns, and I will erect her fence, and she will not find her paths.

וְרִדְּפָה אֶת־מְאַהֲבֶיהָ וְלֹא־תַשִּׂיג אֹתָם וּבִקְשָׁתַם וְלֹא תִמְצָא וְאָמְרָה אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה אֶל־אִישִׁי הָרִאשׁוֹן כִּי טוֹב לִי אָז מֵעָתָּה

She will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them; she will seek them, but will not find them, as they will all abandon her and vanish from the scene. And then, when she has been disappointed by them, she will say: I will go and return to my first husband, as it was better for me then, when I was with my husband, than now, as all my lovers have betrayed me and I cannot trust any of them.

וְהִיא לֹא יָדְעָה כִּי אָנֹכִי נָתַתִּי לָהּ הַדָּגָן וְהַתִּירוֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָר וְכֶסֶף הִרְבֵּיתִי לָהּ וְזָהָב עָשׂוּ לַבָּעַל

She did not know that her food did not come from her lovers, but that it was I who gave her the grain, and the wine, and the oil, and lavished upon her the silver and the gold they used for the Baal. In truth, she received nothing from her lovers. All that she possessed came from Me.

לָכֵן אָשׁוּב וְלָקַחְתִּי דְגָנִי בְּעִתּוֹ וְתִירוֹשִׁי בְּמוֹעֲדוֹ וְהִצַּלְתִּי צַמְרִי וּפִשְׁתִּי לְכַסּוֹת אֶת־עֶרְוָתָה

Therefore, I will return and take back all the goodness that I bestowed upon her: My grain at its time, and My wine at its appointed time, and I will salvage from her My wool and My flax which were given to her to cover her nakedness.

וְעַתָּה אֲגַלֶּה אֶת־נַבְלֻתָהּ לְעֵינֵי מְאַהֲבֶיהָ וְאִישׁ לֹא־יַצִּילֶנָּה מִיָּדִי

Now I will reveal her vileness to the eyes of her paramours, and no man, none of these paramours, will deliver her from My hand, since they are not really interested in what is best for her. She devotes herself to them fully, without considering that she receives nothing from them in return.

וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי כָּל מְשׂוֹשָׂהּ חַגָּהּ חָדְשָׁהּ וְשַׁבַּתָּהּ וְכֹל מוֹעֲדָהּ

I will bring all her times of rejoicing to an end: her festivals, her New Moons, which were festive days, and her Sabbaths, and all her appointed times.

וַהֲשִׁמֹּתִי גַּפְנָהּ וּתְאֵנָתָהּ אֲשֶׁר אָמְרָה אֶתְנָה הֵמָּה לִי אֲשֶׁר נָתְנוּ־לִי מְאַהֲבָי וְשַׂמְתִּים לְיַעַר וַאֲכָלָתַם חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה

I will render her vines and her fig trees desolate, of which she said: These are my fee that my paramours gave me. She mistakenly thought that the paramours were the ones who gave her the vines and fig trees. In that period, certain Israelites incorporated various faiths and rites into their worship of God. Some believed that the Baal and Ashtoret were in charge of produce and crops, and therefore they felt that whether or not those idols were connected to God, they must still be worshipped in order to ensure a bountiful crop. God therefore declared: I will make them, those fruit trees, into an abandoned forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

וּפָקַדְתִּי עָלֶיהָ אֶת־יְמֵי הַבְּעָלִים אֲשֶׁר תַּקְטִיר לָהֶם וַתַּעַד נִזְמָהּ וְחֶלְיָתָהּ וַתֵּלֶךְ אַחֲרֵי מְאַהֲבֶיהָ וְאֹתִי שָׁכְחָה נְאֻם־ה'

I will reckon upon her, remember her deeds, in the days of the Be’alim, to which she burned incense, and donned her earrings and her jewelry, and followed her paramours, but Me she forgot – the utterance of the Lord. Consequently, I will take everything from her, and she will be left desolate and lacking.

לָכֵן הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מְפַתֶּיהָ וְהֹלַכְתִּיהָ הַמִּדְבָּר וְדִבַּרְתִּי עַל־לִבָּהּ

Once again the prophet turns from reproof to words of reconciliation: Therefore, behold, I will seduce her and lead her to the wilderness. I will return her to the early days of our relationship. We will renew our youthful encounters of love, in seclusion and with the same dedication as when the nation left Egypt, and in the wilderness I will speak to her heart.

וְנָתַתִּי לָהּ אֶת־כְּרָמֶיהָ מִשָּׁם וְאֶת עֵמֶק עָכוֹר לְפֶתַח תִּקְוָה וְעָנְתָה שָּׁמָּה כִּימֵי נְעוּרֶיהָ וּכְיוֹם עֲלוֹתָהּ מֵאֶרֶץ־מִצְרָיִם

From there I will give her her vineyards, even from the wilderness, and I will change the tainted valley so that it will be an entrance of hope. And she will respond to Me with affection there, like in the days of her youth and like on the day of her coming up from the land of Egypt.

וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם־הַהוּא נְאֻם־ה' תִּקְרְאִי 'אִישִׁי' וְלֹא־תִקְרְאִי־לִי עוֹד 'בַּעְלִי'

It shall be on that day of the future redemption – the utterance of the Lord – that you shall call Me my spouse [ishi], and you will no longer call Me my husband [ba’li]. These two terms both mean husband; however, the word ba’li will be rejected because of its association with the idol Baal.

וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת־שְׁמוֹת הַבְּעָלִים מִפִּיהָ וְלֹא־יִזָּכְרוּ עוֹד בִּשְׁמָם

I will remove the names of the Be’alim from her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by their name.

וְכָרַתִּי לָהֶם בְּרִית בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עִם־חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה וְעִם־עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וְרֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה וְקֶשֶׁת וְחֶרֶב וּמִלְחָמָה אֶשְׁבּוֹר מִן־הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁכַּבְתִּים לָבֶטַח

I will establish a covenant for them, the children of Israel, on that day, with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the heavens, and with the crawling creatures of the ground. When redemption arrives and peace reigns in the world, even animals will cease to cause harm. Bow, sword, and war will I terminate from the land, and I will have them lie down in security. All will live in a state of tranquility and brotherhood.

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי לְעוֹלָם וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי בְּצֶדֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּט וּבְחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים

And then I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, with justice, with grace, and with mercy.

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי בֶּאֱמוּנָה – וְיָדַעַתְּ אֶת־ה'

I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness, in steadfastness, and you will know the Lord.

וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶעֱנֶה נְאֻם־ה' אֶעֱנֶה אֶת־הַשָּׁמָיִם וְהֵם יַעֲנוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ

The spirit of reconciliation will be characterized both by the renewal of the marriage-like covenant between God and His people and by cosmic harmony: It shall be on that day of the redemption that I will respond and fulfill requests – the utterance of the Lord – I will respond to the heavens by fulfilling their wish to actualize their potential, and they will respond to the earth by bringing down rain.

וְהָאָרֶץ תַּעֲנֶה אֶת־הַדָּגָן וְאֶת־הַתִּירוֹשׁ וְאֶת־הַיִּצְהָר וְהֵם יַעֲנוּ אֶת־יִזְרְעֶאל

The earth will respond with the grain and the wine and the oil, by sprouting these crops, and they will all, the heavens, the earth, and the produce, respond to Yizre’el, the northern kingdom.

וּזְרַעְתִּיהָ לִּי בָּאָרֶץ וְרִחַמְתִּי אֶת־לֹא רֻחָמָה וְאָמַרְתִּי לְלֹא־עַמִּי עַמִּי־אַתָּה וְהוּא יֹאמַר אֱלֹהָי

I will once again sow her, the assembly of Israel, for Me in the land, and I will pity Lo Ruhama. I will say to Lo Ami: You are My people; and then he will say: You are My God.