Hosea 2:5-7

New International Reader's Version

⁵ Their mother hasn’t been faithful to me.
    She who became pregnant with them
    has brought shame on herself.
She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers.
    They give me my food and water.
They provide me with wool and linen.
    They give me olive oil and wine.’
⁶ So I will block her path with bushes that have thorns.
    I’ll build a wall around her.
    Then she can’t go to her lovers.
⁷ She will still chase after her lovers.
    But she won’t catch them.
She’ll look for them.
    But she won’t find them.
Then she’ll say,
    ‘I’ll go back to my husband.
That’s where I was at first.
    I was better off then than I am now.’