Beginning
Hosea’s Wife and Children
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Be’eri,[a] in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, the king of Israel.
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go. Take for yourself an immoral wife and children produced by sexual immorality,[b] because the land has been committing flagrant immorality, turning away from the Lord.”
3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and gave birth to a son for him.
4 The Lord said to him, “Name him Jezre’el,[c] because in a little while I will inflict punishment on the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezre’el. I will destroy the ruling power of the house of Israel. 5 In that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezre’el.”
6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.
The Lord said to him, “Name her Lo Ruhamah,[d] because I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. Indeed, I will certainly not forgive them. 7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah. I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”[e]
8 Gomer weaned Lo Ruhamah. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son.
9 The Lord said, “Name him Lo Ammi,[f] because you are not my people, and I will not be the Lord for you.”[g]
A Promise of Future Blessing
10 Nevertheless, the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. Then, in the place where they were told, “You are not my people,” they will be told, “You are children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint one head for themselves, and they will go up from the land, for the day of Jezre’el will be great.[h]
Israel Rebuked, Punished, and Restored
2 Plead with[k] your mother!
Plead with her, because she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her put away her sexual immorality from her presence
and her acts of adultery from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and expose her as she was on the day she was born.
I will make her like a wilderness.
I will cause her to be like a dry land.
I will cause her to die of thirst.
4 I will have no compassion on her children,
because they are children of promiscuity,
5 because their mother has been promiscuous.[l]
She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
She said, “I will chase after my lovers,
the ones who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my flax, my olive oil and my drinks.”
6 Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block your[m] way with thorns.
I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will chase after her lovers,
but she will not reach them.
She will seek them,
but she will not find them.
She will say, “I will go back to my first husband,
because then it was better for me than it is now.”
8 But she would not acknowledge that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.
I gave her large amounts of silver and gold—her people used it for Baal!
9 That is why I will take back my grain during harvest time,
and my new wine in its season.
I will also take away my wool and my flax that were given to cover her nakedness.
10 Then I will expose her shameful nakedness in the sight of her lovers.
No one will deliver her from my hand.
11 I will put an end to all her celebration:
her pilgrimage festivals,[n] her monthly new moons, and her weekly Sabbaths—
all her appointed festivals.
12 I will devastate her vines and her fig trees,
about which she said, “These are the payment[o] that my lovers gave me.”
I will make them into a scrub forest,
and the wild animals will eat the crops.
13 I will punish her for the days with the Baals, on which she repeatedly offered incense to them.
She adorned herself with her rings[p] and her jewelry,
and then she chased after her lovers,
and she forgot me, declares the Lord.
14 But watch! I am going to court her.
I will bring her into the wilderness.
I will speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her.
The Valley of Achor[q] will be a door of hope.
She will respond there as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 In that day, declares the Lord, this is what will take place:
You will call me “my husband.”
You will no longer call me “my master.”[r]
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth.
She will no longer call them by their names.[s]
18 In that day I will make a covenant for the Israelites with the wild animals, with the birds of the sky and the things that creep on the ground.
I will break the bow and the sword.
I will abolish war from the land.
I will allow the people to lie down safely.[t]
19 I will pledge you to myself in marriage forever.
I will pledge you to myself in marriage—
with righteousness, justice, mercy, and compassion.
20 In faithfulness I will pledge you to myself in marriage,
and you will know the Lord.
21 In that day this is what will happen:
I will respond, declares the Lord.
I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.
They will respond to Jezre’el.
23 I will sow her for myself in the land.
I will have compassion for Lo Ruhamah,[u]
and I will tell Lo Ammi,[v] “You are my people,”
and he will say, “You are my God!”
The Prophet’s Reconciliation With His Wife:
A Picture of the Lord’s Love
3 The Lord said to me, “Go again. Show love to a woman who is loved by another man, a woman who keeps committing adultery. Show love just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, even though they keep turning to other gods and loving the raisin cakes.”[w]
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and nine bushels[x] of barley. 3 I said to her, “You will stay with me for many days. You must not be promiscuous.[y] You must not be with any other man, and I will also be for you.”
4 So the people of Israel will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred memorial stones, and without the special vest[z] or family idols.[aa] 5 Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
The Lord’s Charges Against Israel and Its Priests
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you people of Israel,
because the Lord has charges to make against the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth,
there is no mercy,
and there is no knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is cursing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery.
They break out in violence, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,[ab]
and everyone who dwells in it wastes away
along with the wild animals and the birds in the sky.
Even the fish of the sea have been removed.
4 Yet no one should bring charges.
No one should accuse,
because your people are like those who dispute with a priest.[ac]
5 You will stumble by day,
and the prophet will also stumble with you by night.
I will also destroy your mother.
6 My people have been destroyed because of lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you
from serving as a priest for me.
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me.
I changed their glory into shame.[ad]
8 They feed on the sin of my people.
They set their desire on things that make them guilty.
9 So it will be the same for people as for priests.
I will punish them for their ways.
I will repay them for their deeds.
10 They will eat, but not be satisfied.
They will engage in sexual immorality, but not increase.
This will take place because they have abandoned the Lord to devote themselves to 11 sexual sin.[ae]
Wine and new wine take away their understanding.[af]
12 My people consult their wooden idol,
and their fortunetellers wand gives them information,
because a promiscuous spirit has led them astray,
and they behave like a whore instead of following their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops.
They burn incense on the hills, and under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
because their shade is pleasant.
That is why your daughters commit fornication,[ag]
and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit fornication,
or your brides when they commit adultery,
because the men consort with prostitutes
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes.
So the people without understanding will come to ruin.
15 Though you, Israel, practice sexual immorality,
Judah should not follow your guilty way.
Do not go to Gilgal.
Do not go up to Beth Aven.
Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives.”
16 For Israel has become as stubborn as a heifer.
How can the Lord feed them like a lamb in a meadow?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols.
Let him go his own way!
18 Their alcoholic drinks are used up,
but they keep practicing sexual immorality anyway.
Their rulers, who should be their shields, instead love shame.
19 The wings of the wind will sweep them away,
and they will be put to shame because of their sacrifices.
Judgment on Israel’s Priests and Kings
5 Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For this judgment applies to you,
because you were a trap at Mizpah
and a net spread out on Mount Tabor.
2 The rebels sink deeper into slaughter,
but I will discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me.
Now, Ephraim, you still practice sexual immorality.
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God.
For a spirit of prostitution lies within them,
and they do not know the Lord.
5 The arrogance of Israel testifies against them.
Israel and Ephraim will stumble over their guilt.
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him.
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They acted treacherously against the Lord.
They even gave birth to illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them along with their allotted land.
8 Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah
and the trumpet in Ramah!
Raise a battle cry at Beth Aven: “Lead the way, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become desolate ruins on the day it is punished.[ah]
What I have made known among the tribes of Israel will certainly happen.
10 The officials of Judah are like people who move a boundary stone.
I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to pursue worthless idols.[ai]
12 I am like a moth to Ephraim,
and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah saw his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria
and sent to the Great King for help,
but he is not able to heal you,
and he will not cure your wound,
14 because I will be like a lion to Ephraim
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
Yes, I will tear him to pieces and go away.
I will carry them off, and there will be no one who can rescue them.
15 I will go. I will return to my place
until they admit their guilt and seek my face.
In their distress they will earnestly seek me.
Israel’s Need to Return to the Lord
6 Come, let us return to the Lord.
For he has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us.
He has struck us,
but he will bandage our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us.
On the third day he will raise us up,
so that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord.
Let us pursue knowledge of the Lord.
As surely as the sun rises,
the Lord will appear.
He will come to us like a heavy rain,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.
God’s Grief Over Israel’s Impenitence
4 What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, Judah?
For your faithfulness[aj] is like a morning mist,
like early dew that disappears.
5 That is why I cut them to pieces by means of the prophets.
I killed them with the words of my mouth.
The judgments against you go forth like the light.
6 For I desire mercy,[ak] and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.
7 Like Adam,[al] they have broken the covenant.
They acted treacherously against me there.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
stained with bloody footprints.
9 As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,
so do bands of priests.
They commit murder on the road to Shechem.
They have committed shameful crimes.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.
Ephraim practices sexual immorality there.
Israel defiles itself.
11 Judah, also for you, a harvest has been appointed,
when I restore the fortunes of my people.[am]
Israel’s Corruption
7 Whenever I want to heal Israel,
the guilt of Ephraim is uncovered,
and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed,
because they deal dishonestly.
Thieves come inside,
and bandits raid outside.
2 In their hearts Ephraim does not realize that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds are all around them.
They are in front of my face.
3 The people of Ephraim make the king glad with their wickedness.
They make their officials happy with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
burning like an oven.
The baker does not need to stoke the fire
from the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.
5 On the day[an] of our[ao] king, the officials became sick from the intoxicating wine.
He reaches out his hand to the blasphemers.
6 Indeed, their hearts are like an oven.
They approach him, while plotting against him.
Their anger sleeps all night,
but in the morning it burns like a blazing fire.
7 They are all hot as an oven.
They devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen.
Not one of them calls on me.
8 Ephraim mixes itself with the nations.
Ephraim is a flatbread not turned over.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength,
but he does not realize it.
There are gray hairs on his head,
but he does not realize it.
10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,
yet they have not returned to the Lord their God,
and they have not sought him, despite all this.
Israel’s Instability
11 Ephraim is like a gullible dove, without sense.
They call to Egypt.
Then they appeal to Assyria.
12 When they go out, I will spread my net over them.
I will bring them down like birds from the sky.
I will discipline them, on the basis of the report about their assembly.[ap]
13 Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction comes upon them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I want to redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me with their hearts,
but they howl on their beds.
They gather together[aq] for grain and new wine.
They turn away from me.
15 Though I trained and strengthened their arms,
they plot evil against me.
16 They return, but not upward.[ar]
They are like an unreliable bow.
Their officials will fall by the sword because of their angry tongues.
Because of this, they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.