Hosea 1–4

1^*The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, ^ain the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of ^bJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. ^2*The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, ^cGo, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and ^dchildren of whoredoms: for ^ethe land hath committed great whoredom, departing ^ffrom the Lord. ³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. ⁴And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and ^gI will ^†avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and ^hwill cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵And it shall come to pass at that day, that ⁱI will break the bow of Israel in ^kthe valley of Jezreel. ⁶And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And ^lGod said unto him, Call her name ^||Lo-ruhamah: for ^m†I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; ^||but I will utterly take them away. ⁷But ⁿI will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and ^owill not save them by bow, nor by sword, ^onor by battle, ^opby horses, nor by horsemen. ⁸Now when she had ^qweaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. ⁹Then said ^lGod, Call his name ^||Lo-ammi: ^rfor ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. ¹⁰Yet ^sthe number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; ^tand it shall come to pass, ^uthat ^||in the place where it was said unto them, ^rYe are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are ^vthe sons of ^wthe living God. ^11xThen shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and ^xappoint themselves ^yone head, and ^zthey shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of ^aJezreel.

2^aSay ye unto your brethren, ^||Ammi;

And to your sisters, ^||Ru-hamah.

²Plead with your mother, plead:

For ^bshe is not my wife, neither am I her husband:

Let her therefore put away ^cher whoredoms out of her sight,

And her adulteries ^dfrom between her breasts;

³Lest ^eI strip her naked, and set her as ^fin the day that she was born,

And make her ^gas a wilderness, and set her ^glike a dry land,

And slay her ^ghwith thirst.

⁴And ⁱI will not have mercy upon her children;

For they be the ^kchildren of whoredoms.

⁵For their mother ^lhath played the harlot:

^mShe that conceived them hath done shamefully:

For she said, ⁿI will go after my lovers,

^oThat give me my bread and my water,

^pMy wool and my flax, mine oil and my ^†drink.

⁶Therefore, behold, ^qI will ^rhedge up thy way with thorns,

And ^†smake a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

⁷And she shall follow after ⁿher lovers, but she shall not overtake them;

And she shall seek them, but shall not find them:

Then shall she say, ^tI will go and return to my ^ufirst husband;

^tFor then was it better with me than now.

⁸For ^vshe did not know ^wthat I gave her ^xcorn, and ^†xwine, and ^xoil,

And multiplied her silver and gold,

^||Which they prepared for Baal.

⁹Therefore will I return, and ^ytake away my corn in the time thereof,

And my wine in the season thereof,

And will ^||recover ^zmy wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰And now ^awill I discover her ^†lewdness in the sight of her lovers,

And none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

^11bI will also cause all her mirth to cease,

^cHer ^eefeast days, ^deher new moons, and ^dher sabbaths, and all her ^eesolemn feasts.

¹²And I will ^†destroy her vines and her fig trees,

Whereof she hath said, ^fThese are my rewards that ^fmy lovers have given me:

And ^gI will make them a forest,

And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

¹³And ^hI will visit upon her ⁱthe days of Baalim, wherein ⁱshe burned incense to them,

And ^jshe decked herself with ^jjher earrings and ^jjher jewels,

And ^fshe went after her lovers, and ^kforgat me, saith the Lord.

¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

And ^lbring her into the wilderness,

And speak ^||†comfortably unto her.

¹⁵And I will give her ^mher vineyards ⁿfrom thence,

And ^othe valley of Achor for a door of hope:

And she shall ^psing there, as ^qin the days of her youth,

And ^ras in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶And it shall be ^sat that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me ^||Ishi;

And shalt call me no more ^||tBaali.

¹⁷For ^uI will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth,

And ^uthey shall no more be remembered by their name.

¹⁸And ^sin that day ^vwill I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field,

And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground:

And ^wI will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth,

And will make them to lie down ^xsafely.

¹⁹And I will betroth thee unto me for ever;

Yea, ^yI will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment,

And in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

^20yI will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness:

And ^zthou shalt know the Lord.

²¹And it shall come to pass ^sin that day,

^aI will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens,

And they shall hear the earth;

²²And the earth shall hear ^bthe corn, and ^bthe wine, and ^bthe oil;

And they shall hear ^cJezreel.

²³And ^dI will sow her unto me in the earth;

And ^eI ^fwill have mercy upon ^eher that had not obtained mercy;

And ^gI will say to them which were not my people, ^hThou art my people;

And they shall say, Thou art my God.

3Then said the Lord unto me, ^aGo yet, love a woman beloved of her ^bfriend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love ^cflagons ^†of wine. ²So I ^dbought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for ^ean homer of barley, and an ^†half homer of barley: ³And I said unto her, Thou shalt ^fabide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. ⁴For the children of Israel shall abide many days ^gwithout a king, and without a prince, and ^ggwithout a sacrifice, and without ^†han image, and without an ^ijephod, and without ^jkteraphim: ^5kkAfterward shall the children of Israel return, and ^lseek the Lord their God, and ^mDavid their king; and ⁿshall fear the Lord and ^ohis goodness ^pin the latter days.

4^*aHear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel:

For ^aathe Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor ^bknowledge of God in the land.

^2cBy swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out,

And ^†blood toucheth blood.

³Therefore ^dshall the land mourn,

And ^deevery one that dwelleth therein ^fshall languish,

^eghWith the beasts of the field, and ^ehwith the fowls of heaven;

Yea, ^ehthe fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

⁴Yet ⁱlet no man strive, nor reprove another:

For ^kthy people are as ^lthey that strive with the priest.

⁵Therefore shalt thou fall in the day,

And the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night,

And I will ^†destroy ^mthy mother.

⁶My people are ^†destroyed ⁿfor lack of knowledge:

Because thou hast rejected knowledge,

I will also reject thee, that ^othou shalt be no priest to me:

Seeing ^pthou hast forgotten the law of thy God,

I will also forget thy children.

^7qAs they were increased, so they sinned against me:

^rTherefore will I change their glory into shame.

⁸They ^seat up the sin of my people,

And they ^†tset their heart on their iniquity.

^9uAnd there shall be, ^ulike people, like priest:

And ^vI will ^†punish them for their ways,

And ^v†reward them their doings.

¹⁰For ^wthey shall eat, and not have enough:

They shall commit whoredom, and shall not ^xincrease:

Because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.

^11yWhoredom and ^yzwine and ^anew wine ^btake away the heart.

¹²My people ^cask counsel at their ^dstocks,

And ^etheir staff declareth unto them:

For ^fthe spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err,

And they have gone a whoring from under their God.

^13gThey sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,

And burn incense upon the hills,

Under ^hoaks and ⁱpoplars and ^kelms,

Because the shadow thereof is good:

Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom,

And ^lyour spouses shall commit adultery.

^14||I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom,

Nor your spouses when they commit adultery:

For themselves ^mare separated with whores,

And they sacrifice with harlots:

Therefore ⁿthe people that doth not understand shall ^||fall.

¹⁵Though thou, Israel, play the harlot,

Yet let not Judah ⁿⁿoffend;

And come not ye unto ^opGilgal,

Neither go ye up to ^pqBeth-aven,

^rNor swear, The Lord liveth.

¹⁶For Israel ^sslideth back ^tas a backsliding heifer:

Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

^17uEphraim is joined to idols:

^vLet him alone.

¹⁸Their drink ^†is sour: they have committed whoredom continually:

^wHer ^†rulers with shame do love, ^xGive ye.

^19yThe wind hath bound her up in ^zher wings,

And ^athey shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.