Hosea 1:2-10

Common English Bible

God commands Hosea to marry

² When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him,“Go, marry a prostitute and have children of prostitution, for the people of the land commit great prostitution by deserting the Lord.” ³ So Hosea went and took Gomer, Diblaim’s daughter, and she became pregnant and bore him a son. ⁴ The Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will destroy the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵ On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Jezreel Valley.” ⁶ Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Name her No Compassion, because I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel or forgive them. ⁷ But I will have compassion on the house of Judah. I, the Lord their God, will save them; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.” ⁸ When Gomer finished nursing No Compassion, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. ⁹ Then the Lord said, “Name him Not My People because you are not my people, and I am not your God.”^[a]

Hope for the future

^10 [b] Yet the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “Children of the living God.”