Beginning

1 The Word of the LORD that came to 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 At the beginning, the LORD spoke by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea: “Go. Take to you a wife of fornications, and children of fornications. For the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.”

³ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ And the LORD said to him: “Call his name Jezreel. For in a little while, I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the House of Jehu and will make the kingdom of the House of Israel cease.

⁵ “And at that time, I will also break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ She conceived yet again and bore a daughter. And God said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah. For I will no longer have pity upon the House of Israel. But I will utterly take them away.

⁷ “Yet I will have mercy upon the House of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow or by sword or by battle, by horses or by horsemen.”

⁸ Now, when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.

⁹ Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi. For you are not My people. Therefore, I will not be Yours.

¹⁰ “Still, the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or told. And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’

¹¹ “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together to appoint themselves one head. And they shall come up out of the land. For great is the day of Jezreel.”

2 “Say to your brethren, ‘Ammi,’ and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah!’

² “Plead with your mother. Plead! For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband. But let her take away her fornications out of her sight, 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 leave her like a dry land and kill her for thirst.

⁴ “And I will have no pity upon her children. For they are the children of fornication.

⁵ “For their mother has played the harlot. She who conceived them has done shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after your lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

⁶ “Therefore, behold. I will hedge your way with thorns, so that she shall not find her paths.

⁷ “Though she follows after her lovers, she shall not overtake them. Though she seeks them, she shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband. for I was better off at that time than now.’

⁸ “Now, she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they bestowed upon Baal.

⁹ “Therefore, I will return and take away My grain in its time, and My wine in its season, and will recover My wool and My flax, to cover her shame.

¹⁰ “And now I will discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers. And no man shall deliver her out of My Hand.

¹¹ “I will also cause all her joy to cease, her Feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn Feasts.

¹² “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, ‘These are my rewards that my lovers have given me.’ And I will make them as a forest. And the wild beasts shall eat them.

¹³ “And I will visit the days of Baal upon her, during which she burnt incense to them. And she adorned herself with her earrings and her jewels. And she followed her lovers, and forgot Me,” says the LORD.

¹⁴ “Therefore behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak friendly to her.

¹⁵ “And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as on the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ “And at that time,” says the LORD, “you shall call me Ishi, and shall no longer call me Baali.

¹⁷ “For I will take the names of Baal out of her mouth. And they shall no longer be remembered by their names.

¹⁸ “And on that day, I will make a Covenant for them with the wild beasts, and with the birds of the heaven, and with that which creeps upon the earth. And I will break the bow and the sword and the battle from the Earth and will make them sleep safely.

¹⁹ “And I will marry you to Me forever. Yea, I will marry you to Me in righteousness and in judgment and in mercy and in compassion.

²⁰ “I will even marry you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

²¹ “And on that day, I will hear,” says the LORD, “I will hear the heavens. And they shall hear the Earth.

²² “And the Earth shall hear the grain and the wine and the oil. And they shall hear Jezreel.

²³ “And I will sow her to Me in the earth. And I will have mercy upon her who was not pitied. And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people.’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

3 Then the LORD said to me, “Go again. Love a woman (beloved by her husband, but also a harlot) according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, though they looked to other gods and loved the wine bottles.”

² So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, and a half homer of barley.

³ And I said to her, “You shall abide with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot and you shall not have another man. And I will be so to you.”

⁴ For the children of Israel shall remain without a king and without a prince for many days, and without an offering and without an image and without an ephod and without Teraphim.

⁵ Afterward, the children of Israel shall convert and seek the LORD their God and David, their king, and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.

4 Hear the Word of the LORD, you children of Israel! For the LORD has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land:

² “By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and whoring, they break out. And blood touches blood.

³ “Therefore the land shall mourn. And everyone who dwells in it shall be cut off, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heaven. And the fish of the sea shall also be taken away.

⁴ “Still, let no one rebuke or reprove another. For you people are as those who rebuke the priest.

⁵ “Therefore, you shall fall in the day. And the Prophet shall fall with you in the night. And I will destroy your mother.

⁶ “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have refused knowledge, I will also refuse you, so that you shall be no priest to Me. And seeing you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.

⁷ “As they were increased, so they sinned against Me. I will change their glory into shame.

⁸ “They eat up the sins of My people and lift up their minds in their iniquity.

⁹ “And it shall be ‘like people, like priest’. For I will visit their ways upon them and reward them for their deeds.

¹⁰ “For they shall eat and not have enough. They shall commit adultery and shall not increase, because they have ceased obeying the LORD.

¹¹ “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away their heart.

¹² “My people ask counsel at their wooden idols. And their staff teaches them. For the spirit of fornications has caused them to err. And they have gone a whoring from under their God.

¹³ “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, under the oaks and the poplar tree and the elm, because their shadows are good. Therefore, your daughters shall be harlots. And your spouses shall be whores.

¹⁴ “I will not visit your daughters when they are harlots, or your spouses when they are whores. For they themselves are separated with harlots and sacrifice with whores. Therefore, the people who do not understand shall fall.

¹⁵ “Though you, Israel, play the harlot, do not let Judah sin. Do not come to Gilgal, or go up to Beth Aven, or swear, ‘The LORD lives.’

¹⁶ “For Israel is as rebellious as an unruly heifer. Now, the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

¹⁷ “Ephraim has joined to idols. Let him alone.

¹⁸ “Their drunkenness stinks. They have committed whoredom. Their rulers dearly love shameful ways.

¹⁹ “The wind has bound them up in her wings. And they shall be ashamed of their sacrifices.”

5 “O you priests, hear this! And listen, O House of Israel! And give ear, O House of the king! For judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor!

² “And the rebels are deep in the slaughter, though I have been a Rebuker of them all.

³ “I know Ephraim. And Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have become a harlot. Israel is defiled!”

⁴ They will not give their minds to turn to their God. For the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them. And they have not known the LORD.

⁵ And the pride of Israel testifies to His Face. Therefore, Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity. Judah shall also fall with them.

⁶ They shall go with their sheep, and with their bullocks, to seek the LORD. But they shall not find Him. He has withdrawn Himself from them.

⁷ They have transgressed against the LORD. For they have begotten strange children. Now, a month shall devour them with their portions.

⁸ “Blow the trumpet in Gibeah, the shame in Ramah! Cry out at Beth Aven, ‘Behind you, O Benjamin!’

⁹ “Ephraim shall be desolate on the day of rebuke! I have caused the truth to be known among the tribes of Israel.

¹⁰ “The princes of Judah were like those who remove a boundary. I will pour out My wrath upon them like water.

¹¹ “Ephraim is oppressed, broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after man’s commandment.

¹² “Therefore, I will be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the House of Judah as rottenness.

¹³ “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb. Yet, he could not heal you or cure you of your wound.

¹⁴ “For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp to the House of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away. I will take away and no one shall rescue it.

¹⁵ “I will go and return to My place, until they acknowledge their fault and seek Me in their affliction. They will seek me diligently.”

6 Come and let us return to the LORD. For He has torn and He will heal us. He has wounded us and He will bind us up.

² After two days, He will revive us. On the third day, He will raise us up and we shall live in His sight.

³ Then we shall have knowledge and endeavor to know the LORD. His going forth is prepared as the morning. And He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter rain, to the earth.

⁴ “O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? O Judah, how shall I entreat you? For your goodness is as a morning cloud. And as the morning dew it goes away.

⁵ “Therefore, I have cut them down by the Prophets. I have killed them by the Words of My Mouth. And the judgments of you were as the light that goes forth.

⁶ “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than Burnt Offerings.

⁷ “But they, like men, have transgressed the Covenant. There they have trespassed against Me.

⁸ “Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity, polluted with blood.

⁹ “And as the thieves wait for a man, the company of priests murder on the way by consent. For they work mischief.

¹⁰ “I have seen villainy in the House of Israel. The whoredom of Ephraim is there. Israel is defiled.

¹¹ “Indeed, Judah, a harvest is set for you when I shall return My people from captivity.”

7 “When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria. For they have dealt falsely. And the thief comes in and the robber plunders outside.

² “And they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own inventions have surrounded them. They are in My sight.

³ “They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

⁴ “They are all adulterers, like bakers who cease to heat an oven after kneading the dough, until it is leavened.

⁵ “In the day of the king, the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine. He stretches out his hand to scorners.

⁶ “For they have made ready their heart like an oven while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all night. In the morning it burns as a flame of fire.

⁷ “They are all as hot as an oven and have devoured their judges. All their kings have fallen. There is no one among them who calls to Me.

⁸ “Ephraim has mixed himself among the people. Ephraim is as an unturned cake on the hearth.

⁹ “Strangers have devoured his strength and he does not know it. Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he does not know.

¹⁰ “And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. And they do not return to the LORD their God or seek Him for all this.

¹¹ “Also, Ephraim is like a dove, deceived, without heart. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.

¹² “When they shall go, I will spread My net upon them and draw them down as the birds of the heaven. I will chastise them, as their Congregation has heard.

¹³ “Woe to them! For they have fled away from Me. Destruction to them, because they have transgressed against Me. Though I have redeemed them, they have still spoken lies against Me.

¹⁴ “And they have not cried to Me with their hearts when they howled upon their beds. They assembled themselves for grain and wine. They rebel against Me.

¹⁵ “Though I have bound and strengthened their arm, they still imagine mischief against Me.

¹⁶ “They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a deceitful bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword because of the rage of their tongues. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.”