Hos 2:7-15 | ESV | STEP | She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say , I will go and return to my first husband , for it was better for me then than now .

Hosea 2:7-15

7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
^aThen she shall say,
‘I will go and return to ^bmy first husband,
^cfor it was better for me then than now.’
8 And ^dshe did not know
that it was ^eI who gave her
^fthe grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on ^gher silver and gold,
^hwhich they used for Baal.
9 Therefore ⁱI will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and ^jI will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now ^kI will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 ^lAnd I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her ^mnew moons, her ⁿSabbaths,
and all her ^oappointed feasts.
12 And ^pI will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
^qof which she said,
‘These are ^rmy wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
^sand the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And ^tI will punish her for ^uthe feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and ^vadorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.

The Lord’s Mercy on Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and ^wbring her into the wilderness,
and ^xspeak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor ^{▼▼ Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26} a door of hope.
And there she shall answer ^zas in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.