Hosea 1–3

1A message came to Hosea from the Lord. He was the son of Beeri. The message came while Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. It also came while Jeroboam was king of Israel. He was the son of Jehoash. Here is what Hosea said.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

²The Lord began to speak through me. He said to me, “Go. Get married to a woman who will commit adultery. Take as your own the children who will be born as a result of her adultery. Marry her because the people of the land are guilty of the worst kind of adultery. They have not been faithful to me.” ³So I married Gomer. She was the daughter of Diblaim. Gomer became pregnant. And she had a son by me.

⁴Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Jezreel. That is because I will soon punish Jehu’s royal family. He killed many people at the city of Jezreel. So I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵At that time I will break their military power. It will happen in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶Gomer became pregnant again. She had a daughter. Then the Lord said to me, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah. That is because I will no longer show love to the people of Israel. I will not forgive them anymore. ⁷But I will show love to the people of Judah. And I will save them. I will not use bows or swords or other weapons of war to do it. I will not save them by using horses and horsemen either. Instead, I will use my own power to save them. I am the Lord their God.”

⁸Later, Gomer stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah. After that, she had another son. ⁹Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-Ammi. That is because Israel is no longer my people. And I am no longer their God.

¹⁰“But the time will come when the people of Israel will be like the sand on the seashore. It can’t be measured or counted. Now it is said about them, ‘You are not my people.’ But at that time they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ¹¹The people of Judah and Israel will be brought together again. They will appoint one leader. They will increase their numbers in the land. And Jezreel’s day will be great. That is because I will plant Israel in the land again.

2“People of Israel, call your brothers My People. And call your sisters My Loved Ones.”

Israel Is Punished and Brought Back to the Lord

²I said to my children,

“Talk things over with your mother.

Talk to her.

She isn’t acting like a wife to me anymore.

She no longer treats me as her husband.

Tell her to stop looking and acting like a prostitute.

Tell her not to let her lovers

lie on her breasts anymore.

³If she doesn’t stop it, I will strip her naked.

I’ll make her as bare as she was on the day she was born.

I’ll make her like a desert.

She will become like dry land.

And I’ll let her die of thirst.”

⁴I won’t show my love to Gomer’s children.

They are the children of other men.

⁵Their mother hasn’t been faithful to me.

She who became pregnant with them

has brought shame on herself.

She said, “I will chase after my lovers.

They give me my food and water.

They provide me with wool and linen.

They give me olive oil and wine.”

⁶So I will block her path with bushes that have thorns.

I’ll build a wall around her.

Then she can’t go to her lovers.

⁷She will still chase after her lovers.

But she won’t catch them.

She’ll look for them.

But she won’t find them.

Then she’ll say,

“I’ll go back to my husband.

That’s where I was at first.

I was better off then than I am now.”

⁸She wouldn’t admit that I was the one

who gave her everything she had.

I provided her with grain, olive oil and fresh wine.

I gave her plenty of silver and gold.

But she used it to make statues of Baal.

⁹So I will take away my grain when it gets ripe.

I’ll take my fresh wine when it’s ready.

I’ll take back my wool and my linen.

I gave them to her to cover her naked body.

¹⁰So now I’ll uncover her body.

All of her lovers will see it.

No one can stop me from punishing her.

¹¹I will put a stop to the special times she celebrates.

I’ll bring an end to the feasts she celebrates each year.

I’ll stop her New Moon Feasts and her Sabbath days.

I’ll bring all of her appointed feasts to an end.

¹²I will destroy her vines and her fig trees.

She said they were her pay from her lovers.

I’ll make them like clumps of bushes and weeds.

Wild animals will eat them up.

¹³The Lord announces,

“Israel burned incense to the gods

that were named after Baal.

I will punish her

for all of the times she did that.

She decorated herself with rings and jewelry.

Then she went after her lovers.

But she forgot all about me.

¹⁴“So now I am going to draw her back to me.

I will lead her into the desert.

There I will speak tenderly to her.

¹⁵I will give her back her vineyards.

I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope for her.

Then she will love me, as she did when she was young.

She will love me just as she did

when she came up out of Egypt.

¹⁶“A new day is coming,” announces the Lord.

“Israel will call me My Husband.

She will no longer call me My Master.

¹⁷She will no longer speak about the gods

that are named after Baal.

She will not pray to them for help anymore.

¹⁸At that time I will make a covenant

for the good of my people.

I will make it with the wild animals

and the birds of the air.

It will also be made with the creatures

that move on the ground.

I will remove bows and swords

and other weapons of war from the land.

Then my people can lie down in safety.

¹⁹I will make Israel my own.

She will belong to me forever.

I will do to her what is right and fair.

I will love her tenderly.

²⁰I will be faithful to her.

And she will recognize me as the Lord.

²¹“So at that time I will answer her,”

announces the Lord.

“I will command the skies

to send rain on the earth.

²²Then the earth will produce grain, olive oil and fresh wine.

And Israel will be called Jezreel.

That is because I will answer her prayers.

²³I will plant her in the land for myself.

I will show my love to the one I called Not My Loved One.

I will say, ‘You are my people’

to those who were called Not My People.

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

Hosea Brings His Wife Back to Himself

3The Lord said to me, “Go. Show your love to your wife again. She is loved by another man. And she has committed adultery. But I want you to love her just as I love the people of Israel. They turn to other gods. And they love to offer raisin cakes to Baal and eat them. In spite of that, I love my people.”

²So I bought Gomer for six ounces of silver and about ten bushels of barley. ³Then I told her, “You must wait for me for a long time. You must not be a prostitute. You must not have sex with any man. And I will wait for you.”

⁴So the people of Israel will live for a long time without a king or prince. They won’t have sacrifices or sacred stones. They won’t have sacred linen aprons or statues of family gods. ⁵After that, the people of Israel will return to the Lord their God. They will look to him and to a king from the family line of David. In the last days, they will tremble with fear as they come to the Lord. And they will receive his full blessing.