Hosea

By marrying Gomer, a prostitute, the prophet Hosea became a living, graphic illustration of God’s sorrow and anger at Israel’s unfaithfulness in her covenant relationship with God.

1 The word of the Lord that camea to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah,b Jotham,c Ahazd and Hezekiah,e kings of Judah,f and during the reign of Jeroboamg son of Jehoasha king of Israel:h

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuousi woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulnessj to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomerk daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel,l because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.m”

6 Gomern conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”),o for I will no longer show love to Israel,p that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow,q sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God,r will save them.”

8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,s Gomer had another son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.b t

10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.u In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’v 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together;w they will appoint one leaderx and will come up out of the land,y for great will be the day of Jezreel.c z

2 a “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’a

Israel Punished and Restored

2 “Rebuke your mother,b rebuke her,

for she is not my wife,

and I am not her husband.

Let her remove the adulterousc look from her face

and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

3 Otherwise I will stripd her naked

and make her as bare as on the day she was born;e

I will make her like a desert,f

turn her into a parched land,

and slay her with thirst.

4 I will not show my love to her children,g

because they are the children of adultery.h

5 Their mother has been unfaithful

and has conceived them in disgrace.

She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,i

who give me my food and my water,

my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’j

6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;

I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.k

7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;

she will look for them but not find them.l

Then she will say,

‘I will go back to my husbandm as at first,n

for then I was better offo than now.’

8 She has not acknowledgedp that I was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,q

who lavished on her the silver and goldr—

which they used for Baal.s

9 “Therefore I will take away my graint when it ripens,

and my new wineu when it is ready.

I will take back my wool and my linen,

intended to cover her naked body.

10 So now I will exposev her lewdness

before the eyes of her lovers;w

no one will take her out of my hands.x

11 I will stopy all her celebrations:z

her yearly festivals, her New Moons,

her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.a

12 I will ruin her vinesb and her fig trees,c

which she said were her pay from her lovers;d

I will make them a thicket,e

and wild animals will devour them.f

13 I will punish her for the days

she burned incenseg to the Baals;h

she decked herself with rings and jewelry,i

and went after her lovers,j

but me she forgot,k”

declares the Lord.l

14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;

I will lead her into the wildernessm

and speak tenderly to her.

15 There I will give her back her vineyards,

and will make the Valley of Achorb n a door of hope.

There she will respondc o as in the days of her youth,p

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.q

16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,

“you will call me ‘my husband’;r

you will no longer call me ‘my master.d’

17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;s

no longer will their names be invoked.t

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them

with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky

and the creatures that move along the ground.u

Bow and sword and battle

I will abolishv from the land,

so that all may lie down in safety.w

19 I will betrothx you to me forever;

I will betroth you ine righteousness and justice,y

inf love and compassion.z

20 I will betroth you ing faithfulness,

and you will acknowledgea the Lord.b

21 “In that day I will respond,”

declares the Lord—

“I will respondc to the skies,

and they will respond to the earth;

22 and the earth will respond to the grain,

the new wine and the olive oil,d

and they will respond to Jezreel.h e

23 I will plantf her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.i g’

I will say to those called ‘Not my people,j’ ‘You are my people’;h

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

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.j Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.k”

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekelsa of silver and about a homer and a lethekb of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,l without sacrificem or sacred stones,n without ephodo or household gods.p 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seekq the Lord their God and David their king.r They will come tremblings to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.t

The Charge Against Israel

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,

because the Lord has a chargeu to bring

against you who live in the land:v

“There is no faithfulness,w no love,

no acknowledgmentx of God in the land.y

2 There is only cursing,a lyingz and murder,a

stealingb and adultery;c

they break all bounds,

and bloodshed follows bloodshed.d

3 Because of this the land dries up,e

and all who live in it waste away;f

the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea are swept away.g

4 “But let no one bring a charge,

let no one accuse another,

for your people are like those

who bring charges against a priest.h

5 You stumblei day and night,

and the prophets stumble with you.

So I will destroy your motherj—

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.k

“Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also reject you as my priests;

because you have ignored the lawl of your God,

I also will ignore your children.

7 The more priests there were,

the more they sinned against me;

they exchanged their glorious Godb m for something disgraceful.n

8 They feed on the sins of my people

and relish their wickedness.o

9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.p

I will punish both of them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.q

10 “They will eat but not have enough;r

they will engage in prostitutions but not flourish,

because they have desertedt the Lord

to give themselves 11 to prostitution;u

old winev and new wine

take away their understanding.w

12 My people consult a wooden idol,x

and a diviner’s rod speaks to them.y

A spirit of prostitutionz leads them astray;a

they are unfaithfulb to their God.

13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops

and burn offerings on the hills,

under oak,c poplar and terebinth,

where the shade is pleasant.d

Therefore your daughters turn to prostitutione

and your daughters-in-law to adultery.f

14 “I will not punish your daughters

when they turn to prostitution,

nor your daughters-in-law

when they commit adultery,

because the men themselves consort with harlotsg

and sacrifice with shrine prostitutesh—

a people without understandingi will come to ruin!j

15 “Though you, Israel, commit adultery,

do not let Judah become guilty.

“Do not go to Gilgal;k

do not go up to Beth Aven.c l

And do not swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’m

16 The Israelites are stubborn,n

like a stubborn heifer.o

How then can the Lord pasture them

like lambsp in a meadow?

17 Ephraim is joined to idols;

leave him alone!

18 Even when their drinks are gone,

they continue their prostitution;

their rulers dearly love shameful ways.

19 A whirlwindq will sweep them away,

and their sacrifices will bring them shame.r

Judgment Against Israel

5 “Hear this, you priests!

Pay attention, you Israelites!

Listen, royal house!

This judgments is against you:

You have been a snaret at Mizpah,

a netu spread out on Tabor.

2 The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter.v

I will discipline all of them.w

3 I know all about Ephraim;

Israel is not hiddenx from me.

Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution;

Israel is corrupt.y

4 “Their deeds do not permit them

to returnz to their God.

A spirit of prostitutiona is in their heart;

they do not acknowledgeb the Lord.

5 Israel’s arrogance testifiesc against them;

the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumbled in their sin;

Judah also stumbles with them.e

6 When they go with their flocks and herds

to seek the Lord,f

they will not find him;

he has withdrawng himself from them.

7 They are unfaithfulh to the Lord;

they give birth to illegitimatei children.

When they celebrate their New Moon feasts,j

he will devoura k their fields.

8 “Sound the trumpetl in Gibeah,m

the horn in Ramah.n

Raise the battle cry in Beth Avenb;o

lead on, Benjamin.

9 Ephraim will be laid wastep

on the day of reckoning.q

Among the tribes of Israel

I proclaim what is certain.r

10 Judah’s leaders are like those

who move boundary stones.s

I will pour out my wratht on them

like a flood of water.

11 Ephraim is …