1 So call your fellow Israelites “God's People” and “Loved-by-the-Lord.”
Unfaithful Gomer—Unfaithful Israel
2 My children, plead with your mother—though she is no longer a wife to me, and I am no longer her husband. Plead with her to stop her adultery and prostitution. 3 If she does not, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will make her like a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst. 4-5 I will not show mercy to her children; they are the children of a shameless prostitute. She herself said, “I will go to my lovers—they give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine.”
6 So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall to block her way. 7 She will run after her lovers but will not catch them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, “I am going back to my first husband—I was better off then than I am now.”
8 She would never acknowledge that I am the one who gave her the grain, the wine, the olive oil, and all the silver and gold that she used in the worship of Baal. 9 So at harvest time I will take back my gifts of grain and wine, and will take away the wool and the linen I gave her for clothing. 10 I will strip her naked in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to save her from my power. 11 I will put an end to all her festivities—her annual and monthly festivals and her Sabbath celebrations—all her religious meetings. 12 I will destroy her grapevines and her fig trees, which she said her lovers gave her for serving them. I will turn her vineyards and orchards into a wilderness; wild animals will destroy them. 13 I will punish her for the times that she forgot me, when she burned incense to Baal and put on her jewelry to go chasing after her lovers. The Lord has spoken.
The Lord's Love for His People
14 So I am going to take her into the desert again; there I will win her back with words of love. 15 I will give back to her the vineyards she had and make Trouble Valley a door of hope. She will respond to me there as she did when she was young, when she came from Egypt. 16 Then once again she will call me her husband—she will no longer call me her Baal. 17 I will never let her speak the name of Baal again.
18 At that time I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and birds, so that they will not harm my people. I will also remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, and will let my people live in peace and safety.
19 Israel, I will make you my wife;
I will be true and faithful;
I will show you constant love and mercy
and make you mine forever.
20 I will keep my promise and make you mine,
and you will acknowledge me as Lord.
21-22 At that time I will answer the prayers of my people Israel.
I will make rain fall on the earth,
and the earth will produce grain and grapes and olives.
23 I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper.
I will show love to those who were called “Unloved,”
and to those who were called “Not-My-People”
I will say, “You are my people,”
and they will answer, “You are our God.”
1 “Bakulu babo be tjilume uti ku bali, ‘Bathu bangu’ ku hazwadzi dzidzo uti, ‘Bahwigwazogwadza.’ ”
Iziraela ayitogalikabgwe
2 “Tjemelani mme benyu, mubatjemele,
ngoti ate bali nkadzi wangu
nami atendili nlume wabo.
Ngabaduse ndingo ye bufukula mu tjiso tjabo,
ne bupombgwe baguduse pakati kwe mazhamu abo.
3 Kusajalo ndowobaambula bakasala basakambala
ndibathama mbujo kufanana ne zhuba labakazwagwa,
ndowobathama bakanga tjilambanyika,
ndibashandula bebe shango yakatshwa nge zhuba,
ndibe ndibabulaya nge nyota.
4 Anditowohwila zogwadza bana babe,
ngoti bana be bupombgwe.
5 Ngobe mme babo abazotongogalikabgwe
babakazwisenga nge mabhatisa shoni.
Ngobe bakazwidwa bakati, ‘Ndowotobela badiwa bangu,
ibo banondipa zojiwa zwangu ne vula yangu,
banondipa wulu yangu ne jila langu ne mafuta angu ne tjing'o tjangu.’
6 Ndizo ikweno ndowozwina zila yabo nge mihwa,
ngono ndowobaka guma linobadzibila,
kuyita kuti basitongo bona zila dzabo.
7 Banowolonda badi babo koga bakasitongobabhata,
banowobashaka koga bakasibabone.
Ipapo banowoti,
‘Ndobgwilila ku nlume wangu we kutanga,
ngoti ndakabe ndiyita kupinda ngwenu.’
8 Abatoziba kuti ndimi ndakabapa
mathunde ne nkumbi we zhambi ne mafuta,
kuti ndimi ndakabe ndimbutitikila siliva ne golide
zwabakashingisa muna Bhaale.”
9 Ndizo wali ndowotola
mathunde angu pa kuvung'wa,
ne nkumbi we zhambi mu tjibaka tjawo.
Ndowotola wulu yangu ne jila langu,
zwababe bakafanila kusungila.
10 Ndowobambula mbeli kwe badi babo
bakasala bali mbujo mu mesho abo,
akuna ungabagwila mu maboko angu.
11 Ndowomisa kushatha kwabo kose,
mizano yabo ye gole ne gole neye Mwedzi ugala,
na bo Sabata babo, mizano yose yakabigwa.
12 “Ndowothukudza mizhambi yabo ne mipaya yabo
yabakati ngekwayo
‘Ikoku i ndipo yangu
yandakapiwa ne badi bangu.’
Ndoyithama ishakana,
ngono phuka dze shango dzowoyija.”
13 Ndowobalobela mazhuba e mizano yaakathamila bo Bhaale
be bapisila motsha,
bezwinakisa nge mang'ina ne ndalama,
besalana shule ne badi babo
imi bendikangang'wa, koleba Yahwe.
14 “Ndizo wali bonani ndowobawonga
abayisa ku tjilambanyika,
abe ndilebeleka nabo nge ludo.
15 Kudwa ikoko ndowobagwilizila minda yabo ye mizhambi,
ngono ndowothama Nkuku wa Akhori nkoba we kugalabgwe.
Ikoko banowondiamutjila sekwa bakathama mu mazhuba e butjetjana gwabo,
se mu mazhuba abakabhuda mu shango ye Egipiti.
16 “Mu zhuba ilelo, koleba Yahwe,
unowondidana uti, ‘Nlume wangu,’
autowobe utjati, ‘Bhaale wangu.’
17 Ndowodusa mazina abo Bhaale mu nlomo wabo,
mazina abo aatjowofa adang'wa kakale.
18 Mu zhuba ilelo ndowobathamila tjidumano
ibo ne phuka dze shango ne nyuni dzinowuluka
ne zwibumbiwa zwinokambayila pasi.
Dati ne thumo ne ngwa
ndowozwipedza mu shango,
ndizo kuti mose mowogala nge kusununguka.
19 Ndowokubigilidza nge kusingapele,
ndowokubigilidza nge ndulamo nenge kutambunuka
mu ludo gusingazunguzike nenge mahwilongoni.
20 Ndowokubigilidza nge kugalikabgwe,
ngono unowoziba Yahwe.
21 “Mu zhuba ilelo ndowodabila koleba Yahwe,
ndowodabila kudzimu,
kudzimu kowodabila shango,
22 ngono shango inowodabila mathunde, nkumbi ne mafuta,
izwezwi zowodabila Jezirele.
23 Ndowobazwidzikilila mu shango,
ndowohwila ngoni bandakadana nditi,
‘Handitjowohwila ngoni.’
Ngono ndowodwa bandakadana nditi,
‘Amute muli bathu bangu,’ nditi ‘Mu bathu bangu,’
ngono ibo banowoti, ‘Imwi mu Ndzimu wangu.’ ”