Hosea 1-3
Complete Jewish Bible
1 This is the word of Adonai that came to Hoshea the son of Be’eri during the reigns of ‘Uziyah, Yotam, Achaz and Y’chizkiyah, kings of Y’hudah, and during the reign of Yarov‘am the son of Yo’ash, king of Isra’el. 2 Adonai’s opening words in speaking to Hoshea were to instruct Hoshea,
“Go, marry a whore,
and have children with this whore;
for the land is engaged in flagrant whoring,
whoring away from Adonai.”
3 So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Adonai said to him, “Call him Yizre‘el, because in only a short time I will punish the house of Yehu for having shed blood at Yizre‘el; I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Isra’el. 5 When that day comes, I will break the bow of Isra’el in the Yizre‘el Valley.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Adonai said to him, “Name her Lo-Ruchamah [unpitied], for I will no longer have pity on the house of Isra’el. By no means will I forgive them. 7 But I will pity the house of Y’hudah; I will save them not by bow, sword, battle, horses or cavalry, but by Adonai their God.”
8 After weaning Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Adonai said, “Name him Lo-‘Ammi [not-my-people], because you are not my people, and I will not be your [God].
2 (1:10) “Nevertheless, the people of Isra’el will number as many as the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; so that the time will come when, instead of being told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are the children of the living God.’ 2 (1:11) Then the people of Y’hudah and the people of Isra’el will be gathered together; they will appoint for themselves one leader; and they will go up out of the land; for that will be a great day, [the day] of Yizre‘el.
3 (1) “Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi [My People]!’
and to your sisters, ‘Ruchamah [Pitied]!’
4 (2) Rebuke your mother, rebuke her;
for she isn’t my wife, and I’m not her husband.
She must remove her whoring from her face,
and her adulteries from between her breasts.
5 (3) Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and place her as she was the day she was born,
make her like a desert, place her like a dry land
and kill her with thirst.
6 (4) I will have no pity on her children,
for they are children of whoring —
7 (5) their mother prostituted herself,
she who conceived them behaved shamelessly;
she said, ‘I will pursue my lovers,
who give me my food and water,
wool, flax, olive oil and wine.’
8 (6) Therefore, I will block her way with thorns
and put up a hedge so she can’t find her paths.
9 (7) She will pursue her lovers but not catch them.
She will seek them but won’t find them.
Then she will say, ‘I will go
and return to my first husband;
because things were better for me then
than they are now.’
10 (8) For she doesn’t know it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine and the oil;
I who increased her silver and gold,
which they used for Ba‘al.
11 (9) So I will take back my grain at harvest-time
and my wine in its season;
I will snatch away my wool and flax,
given to cover her naked body.
12 (10) Now I will uncover her shame,
while her lovers watch;
and no one will save her from me.
13 (11) I will end her happiness,
her festivals, Rosh-Hodesh, and shabbats,
and all her designated times.
14 (12) I will ravage her vines and fig trees,
of which she says, ‘These are my wages
that my lovers have given me.’
But I will turn them into a forest,
and wild animals will eat them.
15 (13) I will punish her for offering incense
on the feast days of the ba‘alim,
when she decked herself with her earrings and jewels,
pursuing her lovers and forgetting me,” says Adonai.
16 (14) “But now I am going to woo her —
I will bring her out to the desert
and I will speak to her heart.
17 (15) I will give her her vineyards from there
and the Akhor Valley as a gateway to hope.
She will respond there as she did when young,
as she did when she came up from Egypt.
18 (16) “On that day,” says Adonai
“you will call me Ishi [My Husband];
you will no longer call me Ba‘ali [My Master].
19 (17) For I will remove the names
of the ba‘alim from her mouth;
they will never again be mentioned by name.
20 (18) When that day comes, I will make
a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds in the air
and the creeping things of the earth.
I will break bow and sword,
sweep battle from the land,
and make them lie down securely.
21 (19) I will betroth you to me forever;
yes, I will betroth you to me
in righteousness, in justice,
in grace and in compassion;
22 (20) I will betroth you to me in faithfulness,
and you will know Adonai.
23 (21) When that day comes,
I will answer,” says Adonai
“I will answer the sky,
and it will answer the earth;
24 (22) the earth will answer the corn, wine and oil,
and they will answer Yizre‘el [God will sow].
25 (23) I will sow her for me in the land.
I will have pity on Lo-Ruchamah [Unpitied];
I will say to Lo-‘Ammi [Not-My-People], ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
3 Adonai said to me, “Go once more, and show love to [this] wife [of yours] who has been loved by her boyfriend, to this adulteress — just as Adonai loves the people of Isra’el, even though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [offered to them].”
2 So I bought her back for myself with fifteen pieces of silver and eight bushels of barley . 3 Then I told her, “You are to remain in seclusion for a long time and be mine. You are not to be a prostitute, and you are not to be with any other man; and I won’t come in to have sex with you either.” 4 For the people of Isra’el are going to be in seclusion for a long time without a king, prince, sacrifice, standing-stone, ritual vest or household gods. 5 Afterwards, the people of Isra’el will repent and seek Adonai their God and David their king; they will come trembling to Adonai and his goodness in the acharit-hayamim.
Hoshea 1-3
Orthodox Jewish Bible
1 The Devar Hashem that came unto Hoshea, ben Be’eri, in the yamim of Uziyah, Yotam, Achaz, and Yechizkiyah, melachim of Yehudah, and in the yamim of Yarov‘am ben Yoash, Melech Yisroel.
2 The beginning of the Devar Hashem by Hoshea: And Hashem said to Hoshea, Go, take unto thee an eshet zenunim (wife of whoredoms) and yeladim of zenunim; for ha’aretz hath committed great whoredom, by departing from Hashem.
3 So he went and took Gomer bat Divlayim; which conceived, and bore him ben.
4 And Hashem said unto him, Call shmo Yizre’el (G-d will sow); for yet a little while, and I will visit vengeance upon Bais Yehu for the demei Yizre’el (massacre at Yizre’el), and will cause to cease the Mamlechut Bais Yisroel [See 2Kg chp 9].
5 And it shall come to pass on Yom Hahu, that I will break the keshet Yisroel (bow of Israel), in the Emek Yizre’el (Jezreel Valley).
6 And she conceived again, and bore a bat. And G-d said unto him, Call her shem Loruchamah (not pitied); for I will no more have pity upon Bais Yisroel; since I have been utterly betrayed by them [1K 2:10].
7 But I will have mercy upon the Bais Yehudah, and will save them by Hashem Eloheihem, and will not save them by keshet, nor by cherev, nor by milchamah, by susim, nor by parashim.
8 Now when she had weaned Lo-ruchamah, she conceived, and bore ben.
9 Then said G-d, Call shmo Lo-ami; for ye are lo ami (not My people), and to you (pl) not eh’h’yeh (I am, which is ALEFH HEH YOD HEH 1 common sg form of YOD HEH VAV HEH—HASHEM, i.e., to you I am not Hashem).
10 (2:1) Yet the number of the Bnei Yisroel shall be as the sand of the yam (sea), which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are lo ami (not My people), there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the Bnei El Chai.
11 (2:2) Then shall the Bnei Yehudah and the Bnei Yisroel be gathered together, and appoint for them Rosh Echad [Moshiach; see Isa chp 11; Hoshea 3:5], and they shall come up out of ha’aretz; for gadol shall be the Yom Yizre’el (Day of Jezreel [G-d will sow]).
2 1 (2:3) Say ye unto your achim, Ami (My people); and to your achayot, Ruchamah (Pitied).
2 (2:4) Plead with immechem (your mother), plead; for she is not my isha (wife), neither am I her ish (husband); let her therefore put away her zenunim (whoredoms) out of her sight, and her na’afufim (adulteries) from between her breasts;
3 (2:5) Lest I strip her naked, and set her as bare as the day she was born, and make her as a midbar, and turn her like an eretz tziyyah (parched land), and kill her with tzamah (thirst).
4 (2:6) And I will not have mercy upon her banim; for they are the bnei zenunim.
5 (2:7) For their em hath played the zonah (prostitute); she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my lechem and my mayim, my wool and my flax, mine shemen (oil) and my shikkui (drink).
6 (2:8) Therefore, hinei, I will hedge up thy path with thorns, and wall in her wall, that she shall not find her netivah (way).
7 (2:9) And she shall chase after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them; then shall she say, I will go and return to my ish harishon (first husband); for then was it better with me than now.
8 (2:10) For she did not have da’as that I gave her dagan (grain), and tirosh (new wine), and yitzhar (oil), and multiplied her kesef and zahav, which they prepared for Ba’al.
9 (2:11) Therefore will I return, and take away My dagan in the season thereof, and My tirosh in the season thereof, and will take back My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.
10 (2:12) And now will I expose her navlut (lewdness) in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of Mine hand.
11 (2:13) I will also cause all her masos (exultation, joy) to cease, her Chag (feast), her Chodesh (New Moons), and her Shabbatot, and all her Mo’adim (appointed feasts).
12 (2:14) And I will destroy her gefanim (vines) and her te’enim (fig trees), whereof she hath said, These are my etnan (harlot’s wages) that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the wild beasts of the sadeh shall devour them.
13 (2:15) And I will visit upon her the yamim of Ba’alim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her ring and her jewelry, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me, saith Hashem.
14 (2:16) Therefore, hinei, I will allure her, and bring her into the midbar, and speak to her lev.
15 (2:17) And there I will give her her kramim (vineyards), and the Emek Achor (Valley of Trouble) I will make a petach tikvah (door of hope); and she shall sing there, as in the yamim of her youth, and as in the yom when she came up out of Eretz Mitzrayim.
16 (2:18) And it shall be in Yom Hahu, saith Hashem, that thou shalt call Me Ishi (my Husband); and shalt call Me no more Ba’ali.
17 (2:19) For I will take away the shemot (names) of Ba’alim out of her mouth, and they shall be remembered by their names no more.
18 (2:20) And in Yom Hahu will I make a brit (covenant) for them with the beasts of the sadeh and with the fowls of Shomayim, and with the creeping things of the adamah; and I will abolish the keshet and the cherev and the milchamah from ha’aretz, and will make them to lie down in safety.
19 (2:21) And I will betroth thee unto Me l’olam; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in tzedek, and in mishpat, and in chesed, and in rachamim.
20 (2:22) I will even betroth thee unto Me in emunah (faithfulness, fidelity): then thou shalt know Hashem.
21 (2:23) And it shall come to pass in Yom Hahu, I will answer, saith Hashem, I will answer HaShomayim (the heavens), and they shall answer Ha’Aretz;
22 (2:24) And Ha’Aretz shall answer with dagan, and tirosh, and yitzhar; and they shall answer Yizre’el (G-d will sow).
23 (2:25) And I will sow her for Myself in ha’aretz; and I will have rachamim upon lo ruchamah; and I will say to them which were lo ami, Thou art ami (My people); and they shall say, Thou art Elohai (my G-d).
3 Then said Hashem unto me, Go again, love an isha (woman, wife) beloved of her re’a (friend, companion), yet a noefet (adulteress), just like the ahavat Hashem toward the Bnei Yisroel, who look to elohim acharim, and love heathen religion raisin cakes [Yirmeyah 44:19].
2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of kesef, and for a chomer and a half of se’orim, [1K 1:18-19 OJBC];
3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide with me yamim rabbim and shalt not play the zonah, and thou shalt not be for another ish; and thus will I also towards thee.
4 For the Bnei Yisroel shall abide yamim rabbim without a melech, and without a sar, and without a zevach, and without a matzevah (stone pillar, monument) and without an ephod (sacred vest used for consulting a deity), and without teraphim (household idols);
5 Afterward shall the Bnei Yisroel return, and seek Hashem Eloheihem, and Dovid their melech [i.e., Moshiach]; and shall fear Hashem and His goodness in the acharit hayamim (last days).
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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