Hosea 1–2

1The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, ^aJotham, ^bAhaz, ^cand Hezekiah, ^dkings of Judah, and of Jeroboam ^eson of Jehoash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Marriage and Children

²When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him:

Go and marry a promiscuous wife ^f

and have children of promiscuity,

for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity

by abandoning the Lord.

³So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. ^g4Then the Lord said to him:

Name him Jezreel, ^hfor in a little while

I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel ⁱ

on the house of Jehu ^j

and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

⁵On that day I will break the bow of Israel ^k

in the Valley of Jezreel. ^lm

⁶She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him:

Name her No Compassion, ⁿ

for I will no longer have compassion

on the house of Israel.

I will certainly take them away.

⁷But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, ^o

and I will deliver them by the Lord their God. ^p

I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war,

or by horses and cavalry. ^q

⁸After Gomer had weaned No Compassion, she conceived and gave birth to a son. ⁹Then the Lord said:

Name him Not My People, ^r

for you are not My people,

and I will not be your God. ^st

^10uYet the number of the Israelites

will be like the sand of the sea, ^v

which cannot be measured or counted.

And in the place where they were told:

You are not My people,

they will be called: Sons of the living God. ^w

¹¹And the Judeans and the Israelites

will be gathered together. ^x

They will appoint for themselves a single ruler ^y

and go up from ^zthe land.

For the day of Jezreel ^awill be great.

2^bCall ^cyour brothers: My People

and your sisters: Compassion.

Israel’s Adultery Rebuked

²Rebuke your mother; rebuke her. ^d

For she is not My wife and I am not her husband. ^e

Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face ^f

and her adultery from between her breasts.

³Otherwise, I will strip her naked ^g

and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.

I will make her like a desert ^h

and like a parched land,

and I will let her die of thirst. ⁱ

⁴I will have no compassion on her children ^j

because they are the children of promiscuity.

⁵Yes, their mother is promiscuous;

she conceived them and acted shamefully. ^k

For she thought, “I will go after my lovers, ^l

the men who give me my food and water,

my wool and flax, my oil and drink.” ^m

⁶Therefore, this is what I will do:

I will block her ⁿway ^owith thorns; ^p

I will enclose her with a wall,

so that she cannot find her paths. ^q

⁷She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; ^r

she will seek them but not find them.

Then she will think,

“I will go back to my former husband, ^s

for then it was better for me than now.” ^t

⁸She does not recognize ^u

that it is I who gave her the grain, ^v

the new wine, and the oil.

I lavished silver and gold on her,

which they used for Baal.

⁹Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time ^w

and My new wine in its season;

I will take away My wool and linen,

which were to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰Now I will expose her shame ^x

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one will rescue her from My hands.

¹¹I will put an end to all her celebrations: ^y

her feasts, ^zNew Moons, ^aand Sabbaths—

all her festivals.

¹²I will devastate her vines and fig trees. ^b

She thinks that these are her wages

that her lovers have given her.

I will turn them into a thicket, ^c

and the wild animals will eat them. ^d

¹³And I will punish her for the days of the Baals ^e

when she burned incense to them, ^f

put on her rings and jewelry, ^g

and went after her lovers,

but forgot Me. ^h

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Israel’s Adultery Forgiven

¹⁴Therefore, I am going to persuade her,

lead her to the wilderness, ⁱ

and speak tenderly to her. ^j

¹⁵There I will give her vineyards back to her ^k

and make the Valley of Achor ^lm

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as she did

in the days of her youth, ⁿ

as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶In that day—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

you will call Me, “My husband,” ^o

and no longer call Me, “My Baal.” ^p

¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Baals

from her mouth;

they will no longer be remembered by their names.

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them

with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,

and the creatures that crawl on the ground. ^q

I will shatter bow, sword,

and weapons of war in the land ^rs

and will enable the people to rest securely. ^t

¹⁹I will take you to be My wife forever. ^u

I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,

justice, love, and compassion. ^v

²⁰I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,

and you will know Yahweh. ^w

²¹On that day I will respond ^x—

this is the Lord’s declaration.

I will respond to the sky,

and it will respond to the earth.

²²The earth will respond to the grain, ^y

the new wine, and the oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel.

²³I will sow her ^zin the land for Myself, ^a

and I will have compassion ^b

on No Compassion;

I will say ^cto Not My People: ^d

You are My people, ^e

and he will say, “You are My God.”