Add parallel Print Page Options

When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.”

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.

Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

She conceived again, and bore a daughter.

Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah[a]; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God,[b] and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.

He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi[c]; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:6 Lo-Ruhamah means “not loved”.
  2. 1:7 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
  3. 1:9 Lo-Ammi means “not my people”.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute,[a] so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”

So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son. And the Lord said, “Name the child Jezreel, for I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel. In fact, I will bring an end to Israel’s independence. I will break its military power in the Jezreel Valley.”

Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.”

After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:2 Or a promiscuous woman.