Say ye unto your brethren, {That is, My people.}Ammi; and to your sisters, {That is, That hath obtained mercy.}Ruhamah.
Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;
for their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my {Hebrew: drinks.}drink.
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they {Or, made into the image of Baal}used for Baal.
Therefore will I {Or, return, and take away}take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
And now will I uncover her {Or, shame}lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her {Or, appointed feasts}solemn assemblies.
And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, {Or, wherein she burned incense to them}unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her {Or, nose-rings}earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak {Hebrew: to her heart.}comfortably unto her.
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of {That is, Troubling.}Achor for a door of hope; and she {Or, sing}shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me {That is, My husband.}Ishi, and shalt call me no more {That is, My master.}Baali.
For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be {Or, remembered}mentioned by their name.
And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely.
And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah.
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;
and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer {Or, That is, Whom God soweth.}Jezreel.
And I will sow her unto me in the {Or, land}earth; and I will have mercy upon {Hebrew: Lo-ruhamah. See chapter 1:6.}her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to {Hebrew: Lo-ammi. See chapter 1:9, 10.}them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
Querverweise zu Hosea 2,5 Hos 2,5
Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and {Or, separated}consecrated themselves unto the {Hebrew: shame.}shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, {Or, wherein she burned incense to them}unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her {Or, nose-rings}earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.
For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they {Or, made into the image of Baal}used for Baal.
And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved {Or, of her husband, yet an &c.}of her friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and {Or, them that love}love cakes of raisins.
and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens.
For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired {Hebrew: loves.}lovers.
And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
And thou shalt stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night; and I will destroy thy mother.
Since the days of our fathers we have been {Hebrew: in great guiltiness.}exceeding guilty unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed; thither also wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
And the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.
My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your {Or, daughter-in-law}brides commit adultery.
I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your {Or, daughter-in-law}brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes; and the people that doth not understand shall be overthrown.
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah {Or, become guilty}offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As Jehovah liveth.
As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;
And behind the doors and the posts hast thou set up thy memorial: for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them: thou lovedst their bed where {Or, thou providedst room for it}thou sawest it.
But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of {Hebrew: bread.}victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
who say to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast {Or, begotten me}brought {Another reading is, us.}me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
{Hebrew: Saying.}They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; {Or, and thinkest thou to return &c?}yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.
Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; yet thou hast a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Thus saith Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.
For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the {Hebrew: shame.}shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
And {Hebrew: at the sight of her eyes.}as soon as she saw them she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
For of old time {Or, thou hast}I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not {Another reading is, transgress.}serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot.
we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances;
neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.
Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
And furthermore ye have sent for men {Or, to come}that come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent, and, lo, they came; for whom thou didst wash thyself, paint thine eyes, and deck thyself with ornaments,
and sit upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou didst set mine incense and mine oil.
And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets upon the hands of them twain, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
Then said I {Or, She that is old will commit adulteries}of her that was old in adulteries, Now will they play {Hebrew: her whoredoms.}the harlot with her, {Or, even with her}and she with them.
And they went in unto her, as they go in unto a harlot: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women.
{Hebrew: Saying.}They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; {Or, and thinkest thou to return &c?}yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.
Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; yet thou hast a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the {Or, companion}guide of my youth?
Will he retain his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou {Or, hast spoken thus, but hast done &c.}hast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast {Hebrew: been able.}had thy way.
Moreover Jehovah said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
{Or, And I said, After she hath done all these things, she &c.}And I said after she had done all these things, {Or, Let her return unto me}She will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by; his it was.
And thou didst take of thy garments, and madest for thee high places decked with divers colors, and playedst the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
Thou hast played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet thou wast not satisfied.
Thou hast moreover multiplied thy whoredom unto the land of {Or, Canaan}traffic, unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
How weak is thy heart, saith the Lord Jehovah, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an impudent harlot;
in that thou buildest thy vaulted place at the head of every way, and makest thy lofty place in every street, and hast not been as a harlot, {Or, that scoffeth at her hire}in that thou scornest hire.
A wife that committeth adultery! that taketh strangers instead of her husband!
They give gifts to all harlots; but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and bribest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms.
And thou art different from other women in thy whoredoms, in that none followeth thee to play the harlot; and whereas thou givest hire, and no hire is given unto thee, therefore thou art different.
And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
who were clothed with blue, governors and {Or, deputies See Jeremiah 51:23, &c.}rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whomsoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.
Neither hath she left her whoredoms {Or, brought from Egypt}since the days of Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their whoredom upon her.
Wherefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they slew with the sword: and she became a {Hebrew: name.}byword among women; for they executed judgments upon her.
And her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her whoredoms which were more than the whoredoms of her sister.
But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest {Many authorities, some ancient read thy wife}the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth my {Greek: bondservants.}servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.
Behold, I cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of {Many ancient authorities read their.}her works.
And I will kill her children with {Or, pestilence}death; and all the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto each one of you according to your works.
And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters;
with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.
And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, {Or, names full of blasphemy}full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and {Greek: gilded.}decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, {Or, and of the unclean things}even the unclean things of her fornication,
and upon her forehead a name written, {Or, a mystery, Babylon the Great}MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.