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. 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. 4 And 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. 5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that iI will break the bow of Israel in kthe valley of Jezreel. 6 And 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. 7 But 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. 8 Now when she had qweaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. 9 Then said lGod, Call his name ||Lo-ammi: rfor ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. 10 Yet 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. 11 xThen 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.

2  Plead 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;

3  Lest 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.

4  And iI will not have mercy upon her children;

For they be the kchildren of whoredoms.

5  For 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.

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

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

7  And 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.

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

And multiplied her silver and gold,

||Which they prepared for Baal.

9  Therefore 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.

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

And none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

11  bI will also cause all her mirth to cease,

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

12  And 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.

13  And 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.

14  Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

And lbring her into the wilderness,

And speak ||†comfortably unto her.

15  And 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.

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

And shalt call me no more ||tBaali.

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

And uthey shall no more be remembered by their name.

18  And 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.

19  And 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.

20  yI will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness:

And zthou shalt know the Lord.

21  And 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;

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

And they shall hear cJezreel.

23  And 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.

3 Then 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. 2 So I dbought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for ean homer of barley, and an †half homer of barley: 3 And 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. 4 For 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: 5 kkAfterward 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.

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

And †blood toucheth blood.

3  Therefore 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.

4  Yet ilet no man strive, nor reprove another:

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

5  Therefore shalt thou fall in the day,

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

And I will †destroy mthy mother.

6  My 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.

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

rTherefore will I change their glory into shame.

8  They seat up the sin of my people,

And they †tset their heart on their iniquity.

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

And vI will †punish them for their ways,

And v†reward them their doings.

10  For 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.

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

12  My 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.

13  gThey 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.

15  Though 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.

16  For Israel sslideth back tas a backsliding heifer:

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

17  uEphraim is joined to idols:

vLet him alone.

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

wHer †rulers with shame do love, xGive ye.

19  yThe wind hath bound her up in zher wings,

And athey shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

5 aHear ye this, O priests;

And hearken, ye house of Israel;

And give ye ear, O house of the king;

For judgment is toward you,

Because bye have been ca snare on dMizpah,

And ea net spread upon fTabor.

2  And gthe revolters hare profound to make slaughter,

||Though I have been †a rebuker of them all.

3  iI know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me:

For now, kO Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and kIsrael is defiled.

4  †||They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God:

For lthe spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them,

And they have not known the Lord.

5  And mthe pride of Israel doth testify nto his face:

Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity;

Judah also shall fall with them.

6  They shall go owith their flocks and with their herds pto seek the Lord;

pBut they shall not find him; pphe hath withdrawn himself from them.

7  They have qdealt treacherously against the Lord:

For they have begotten strange children:

Now shall ra month devour them with their portions.

8  sBlow ye tthe cornet in uGibeah,

And vthe trumpet in wRamah:

xCry aloud at yBeth-aven,

zAfter thee, O Benjamin.

9  Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke:

Among the …