Hosea 1-3

American Standard Version

1 The word of Jehovah that came unto Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

² When Jehovah spake at the first ^[a]by Hosea, Jehovah said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom; for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from Jehovah. ³ So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bare him a son. ⁴ And Jehovah said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will ^[b]avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. ⁵ And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. ⁶ And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And Jehovah said unto him, Call her name ^[c]Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, that I should in any wise pardon them. ⁷ But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. ⁸ Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. ⁹ And Jehovah said, Call his name ^[d]Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be ^[e]your God.

¹⁰ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, ^[f]in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. ¹¹ And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

2 Say ye unto your brethren, ^[g]Ammi; and to your sisters, ^[h]Ruhamah.

² Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; ³ lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. ⁴ Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom; ⁵ for their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my ^[i]drink. ⁶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths. ⁷ And she shall follow 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 first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

⁸ For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they ^[j]used for Baal. ⁹ Therefore will I ^[k]take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. ¹⁰ And now will I uncover her ^[l]lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. ¹¹ I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her ^[m]solemn assemblies. ¹² And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. ¹³ And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, ^[n]unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her ^[o]ear-rings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.

¹⁴ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak ^[p]comfortably unto her. ¹⁵ And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of ^[q]Achor for a door of hope; and she shall ^[r]make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me ^[s]Ishi, and shalt call me no more ^[t]Baali. ¹⁷ For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be ^[u]mentioned by their name. ¹⁸ And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. ¹⁹ And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. ²⁰ I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah.

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth; ²² and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer ^[v]Jezreel. ²³ And I will sow her unto me in the ^[w]earth; and I will have mercy upon ^[x]her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to ^[y]them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

3 And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved ^[z]of her friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and ^[aa]love cakes of raisins. ² So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a ^[ab]half-homer of barley; ³ and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man’s wife: so will I also be toward thee. ⁴ For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without ^[ac]pillar, and without ephod or teraphim: ⁵ afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.