2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch 1 them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them. 2
Then she will say,
“I will go back 3 to my husband, 4
because I was better off then than I am now.” 5
2:8 Yet 6 until now 7 she has refused to acknowledge 8 that I 9 was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who 10 lavished on her the silver and gold –
which they 11 used in worshiping Baal! 12
2:9 Therefore, I will take back 13 my grain during the harvest time 14
and my new wine when it ripens; 15
I will take away my wool and my flax
which I had provided 16 in order to clothe her. 17
2:10 Soon 18 I will expose her lewd nakedness 19 in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me! 20
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 21
that my lovers gave to me!”
I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees 22 into an uncultivated thicket,
so that wild animals 23 will devour them.
2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days
when she burned incense to the Baal idols; 24
she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but 25 she forgot me!” 26 says the Lord.
2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; 27
I will lead 28 her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,
and turn the “Valley of Trouble” 29 into an “Opportunity 30 for Hope.”
There she will sing as she did when she was young, 31
when 32 she came up from the land of Egypt.