Hosea 1–4

Chapter 1

Hosea’s Wife and Children

¹The word of the Lord which came to ^aHosea the son of Beeri, during the days of ^bUzziah, ^cJotham, ^dAhaz and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of ^fJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

²When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “^aGo, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for ^bthe land commits flagrant harlotry, ¹forsaking the Lord.”

³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and ^abore him a son.

⁴And the Lord said to him, “Name him ^aJezreel; for yet a little while, and ^bI will ¹punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and ^cI will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

⁵“On that day I will ^abreak the bow of Israel in the ^bvalley of Jezreel.”

⁶Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And ¹the Lord said to him, “Name her ²Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer ^ahave compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

⁷“But I will have ^acompassion on the house of Judah and ^bdeliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by ^cbow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”

⁸When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

⁹And ¹the Lord said, “Name him ²Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not ³your God.”

¹⁰¹Yet the number of the sons of Israel

Will be like the ^asand of the sea,

Which cannot be measured or numbered;

And ^bin the place

Where it is said to them,

“You are ^cnot My people,”

It will be said to them,

“You are the ^dsons of the living God.”

¹¹And the ^asons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be ^bgathered together,

And they will appoint for themselves ^cone leader,

And they will go up from the land,

For great will be the day of Jezreel.

Chapter 2

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Condemned

¹¹Say to your brothers, “²Ammi,” and to your sisters, “³Ruhamah.”

²“Contend with your mother, ^acontend,

For she is ^bnot my wife, and I am not her husband;

And let her put away her ^charlotry from her face

And her adultery from between her breasts,

³Or I will strip her ^anaked

And expose her as on the ^bday when she was born.

I will also ^cmake her like a wilderness,

Make her like desert land

And slay her with ^dthirst.

⁴“Also, I will have no compassion on her children,

Because they are ^achildren of harlotry.

⁵“For their mother has ^aplayed the harlot;

She who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

Who ^bgive me my bread and my water,

My wool and my flax, my ^coil and my drink.’

⁶“Therefore, behold, I will ^ahedge up ¹her way with ^bthorns,

And I will build ²a wall against her so that she cannot find her ^cpaths.

⁷“She will ^apursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;

And she will seek them, but will not find them.

Then she will say, ‘^bI will go back to my ^cfirst husband,

For it was ^dbetter for me then than now!’

⁸“For she does ^anot know that it was ^bI who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil,

And lavished on her silver and gold,

Which they ¹used for Baal.

⁹“Therefore, I will ^atake back My grain at ¹harvest time

And My new wine in its season.

I will also take away My wool and My flax

Given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰“And then I will ^auncover her lewdness

In the sight of her lovers,

And no one will rescue her out of My hand.

¹¹“I will also ^aput an end to all her gaiety,

Her ^bfeasts, her ^cnew moons, her sabbaths

And all her festal assemblies.

¹²“I will ^adestroy her vines and fig trees,

Of which she said, ‘These are my wages

Which my lovers have given me.’

And I will ^bmake them a forest,

And the ^cbeasts of the field will devour them.

¹³“I will punish her for the ^adays of the Baals

When she used to ^1boffer sacrifices to them

And ^cadorn herself with her ²earrings and jewelry,

And follow her lovers, so that she ^dforgot Me,” declares the Lord.

Restoration of Israel

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

^aBring her into the wilderness

And speak ¹kindly to her.

¹⁵“Then I will give her her ^avineyards from there,

And ^bthe valley of Achor as a door of hope.

And she will ^1csing there as in the days of her youth,

As in the ^dday when she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶“It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord,

“That you will call Me ^1aIshi

And will no longer call Me ²Baali.

¹⁷“For ^aI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,

So that they will be ¹mentioned by their names no more.

¹⁸“In that day I will also make a covenant for them

With the ^abeasts of the field,

The birds of the sky

And the creeping things of the ground.

And I will ^1babolish the bow, the sword and war from the land,

And will make them ^clie down in safety.

¹⁹“I will ^abetroth you to Me forever;

Yes, I will betroth you to Me in ^brighteousness and in justice,

In lovingkindness and in compassion,

²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.

Then you will ^aknow the Lord.

²¹“It will come about in that day that ^aI will respond,” declares the Lord.

“I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,

²²And the ^aearth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil,

And they will respond to ¹Jezreel.

²³“I will ^asow her for Myself in the land.

^bI will also have compassion on ¹her who had not obtained compassion,

And ^cI will say to ²those who were ^dnot My people,

‘You are My people!’

And ³they will say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

Chapter 3

Hosea’s Second Symbolic Marriage

¹Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a ¹woman who is loved by her ²husband, yet an adulteress, even ^aas the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin ^bcakes.”

²So I ^abought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a ¹half of barley.

³Then I said to her, “You shall ^astay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a ¹man; so I will also be toward you.”

⁴For the sons of Israel will remain for many days ^awithout king or prince, ^bwithout sacrifice or sacred ^cpillar and without ^dephod or ^1ehousehold idols.

⁵Afterward the sons of Israel will ^areturn and seek the Lord their God and ^bDavid their king; and ^cthey will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

Chapter 4

God’s Controversy with Israel

^1aListen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,

For the Lord has a ^bcase against the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is ^cno ¹faithfulness or ²kindness

Or ^dknowledge of God in the land.

²There is ^aswearing, ^bdeception, ^cmurder, ^dstealing and ^eadultery.

They employ violence, so that ^fbloodshed ¹follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land ^amourns,

And everyone who lives in it languishes

Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,

And also the fish of the sea ¹disappear.

⁴Yet let no one ^1afind fault, and let none offer reproof;

For your people are like those who ^bcontend with the priest.

⁵So you will ^astumble by day,

And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;

And I will destroy your ^bmother.

^6aMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have ^brejected knowledge,

I also will ^creject you from being My priest.

Since you have ^dforgotten the ^elaw of your God,

I also will forget your children.

⁷The more they ^amultiplied, the more they sinned against Me;

I will ^bchange their glory into shame.

⁸They ^afeed on the ¹sin of My people

And ^bdirect their desire toward their iniquity.

⁹And it will be, like people, ^alike priest;

So I will ^bpunish them for their ways

And repay them for their deeds.

^10aThey will eat, but not have enough;

They will ^bplay the harlot, but not increase,

Because they have ^1cstopped giving heed to the Lord.

¹¹Harlotry, ^awine and new wine take away the ¹understanding.

¹²My people ^aconsult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,

And they have played the harlot, departing ¹from their God.

¹³They offer sacrifices on the ^atops of the mountains

And ^1bburn incense on the hills,

^cUnder oak, poplar and terebinth,

Because their shade is pleasant.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot

And your ²brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot

Or your ¹brides when they commit adultery,

For the men themselves go apart with harlots

And offer sacrifices with ^atemple prostitutes;

So the people without understanding are ²ruined.

¹⁵Though you, Israel, play the harlot,

Do not let Judah become guilty;

Also do not go to ^aGilgal,

Or go up to Beth-aven

^bAnd take the oath:

“As the Lord lives!”

¹⁶Since Israel is ^astubborn

Like a stubborn heifer,

¹Can the Lord now ^bpasture them

Like a lamb in a large field?

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to ^aidols;

^bLet him alone.

¹⁸Their liquor gone,

They play the harlot continually;

^aTheir ¹rulers dearly love shame.

^19aThe wind wraps them in its wings,

And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.