God Commands Hosea to Start a Family

1 The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 ⌊At the beginning when Yahweh spoke⌋a through Hosea,

Yahweh said to Hosea,

“Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom,

because the land commits great whoredom

⌊forsaking Yahweh⌋.”b

3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim,

and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And Yahweh said to him,

“⌊Name him⌋c Jezreel;d

because in a little while ⌊I will punish⌋e the house of Jehuf

for the bloodg of Jezreel,h

and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.i

5 ⌊On that day⌋j

I will break the bow of Israel

in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and hek said to him,

“⌊Name her⌋l Lo-ruhamah,m

for I will no longer have pity

on the house of Israel

or ⌊forgive them⌋.n

7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah

and I will save them by Yahweh their God,

and will not deliver them

by bow, sword, war,

horses, or horsemen.

8 And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah,o she conceived and bore a son.

9 And hep said, “⌊Name him⌋q Lo-ammi,r

for you are not my people

and I am not your God.s

10t The number of the children of Israel

will be like the sand of the sea

that cannot be measured or counted;

and in the place where it is said to them,

“You are not my people,”

it will be said to them,

“Children of the living God.”

11 Then the children of Judah

and Israel will be gathered together,

and they will appoint for themselves

one head;

and ⌊they will take possession of⌋u the land,

for great is the day of Jezreel.v

The Unfaithful Wife

2 Say to your brother,a “Ammi,”b

and to your sister,c “Ruhamah.”d

2 Plead with your mother, plead—

because she is not my wife,

and I am not her husband.

Let her put away her whoring ⌊from before her⌋,e

and her adultery from between her breasts.

3 Lest I strip her naked

and expose her like the day when she was born;

I will make her like the desert

and turn her into parched land;

I will kill her with thirst.

4 And I will not have pity on her children,

because they are children of whoredom.

5 Because their mother was unfaithful;f

she who conceived them has acted shamefully,

for she said:

“I will go after my lovers,

the ones who give me my bread, my water,

my wool, and my flax,

my oil, and my drink.”

6 Therefore, Look!

I am going to hedge her pathg ⌊with thorns⌋,h

and I will build a stone wall, a stone wall against her,

and she will not find her paths.

7 Then she will pursue ⌊her lovers⌋,i

but she will not overtake them;

she will seek them and not find them;

and she will say, “I will go

and return to my first husband

because it was better for me then than now.”

8 But she did not know

that it was I who gave her

grain, new wine, and oil,

and who gave her silver in abundance,

and gold which they made into a Baal.

9 Therefore I will take again

my grain in its time,

and my wine in its season;

and I will take away my wool and my flax,

which were to cover her nakedness.

10 And now I will uncover her nakedness

before the eyes of her lovers,

and no one will rescue her from my hand.

11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,

her festivals,j her new moons,k and her Sabbaths,l

and all her appointed festivals;m

12 and I will lay waste to her vinesn and her fig trees,o

of which she said,

“They are my payment for prostitution,

which my lovers gave to me.”

I will make them a forest,

and the wild animalsp of the field will devour them.

13 ⌊I will punish her⌋q for the days of the Baals,

to whom she burns incense,

and she decked herself with her ornamental ring and jewelry,

and she went after her lovers, and forgot me

—a declaration of Yahweh.

14 Therefore, Look! I am going to allure her

and bring her into the desert,

and ⌊I will speak tenderly to her⌋.r

15 From there I will give her

her vineyards,

and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope.

And there she will respond,

as in the days of her youth,

just as in the day of her coming out of

the land of Egypt.

16 ⌊And on that day⌋—s

a declaration of Yahweh—

you will call me, “My husband;”t

you will no longer call me, “My Baal.”u

17 I will remove the names

of the Baals from her mouth,

and they will no longer be mentioned by their name.

18 I will make a covenant for them on that day,

with the animalsv of the field,

with the birdsw of the heaven, and

with the creeping thingsx of the ground;

the bow, the sword, and the war I will abolish from the land, and I will let them lie down in safety.

19 And I will take you as my wife forever;

I will take you as a wife for myself in righteousness and in justice,

in steadfast love and in mercy.

20 ⌊I will take you as my wife⌋y in faithfulness,

and you will know Yahweh.

21 On that day I will answer, ⌊declares Yahweh⌋,z

I will answer the heavens,

and they will answer the earth.

22 And the earth will answer

the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they will answer Jezreel.a

23 I will sow her for myself in the land;

I will have pity on Lo-ruhama;b

I will say to Lo-ammi,c

“You are my people,”

and he himself will say, “you are my God.”

Another Symbolic Marriage

3 And Yahweh said to me again,

“Go, love a woman

⌊who has a lover⌋a and is committing adultery,

just like the love of Yahweh for the children of Israel,

but they are turning to other gods

and love raisin cakes.”

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver

and a homer of barley and a measure of wine.b

3 And I said to her,

“⌊You must remain as mine⌋c for many days,

and you will not play the whore;

⌊you will not belong⌋d to a man,

and I will belong to you.”

4 The children of Israel will remain for many days

without a king and prince,

without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.

5 Afterward the children of Israel will return

and seek Yahweh their God and David their king.

They will come in fear to Yahweh

and to his goodness at the end of days.