Hosea 1–4

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

The Family of Hosea

²When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.”^{* 3}So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel,^a for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.^{* 5}On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”^*

⁶She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah,^b for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.^{* 7}But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”^*

⁸When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi,^c for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”^d

The Restoration of Israel

^10eYet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”^{* 11}The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.^*

^2fSay to your brothers, “Ammi,”^g and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”^h

Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption

²Plead with your mother, plead—

for she is not my wife,

and I am not her husband—

that she put away her prostitution from her face

and her adultery from between her breasts,^*

³or I will strip her naked

and expose her as in the day she was born

and make her like a wilderness

and turn her into a parched land

and kill her with thirst.^*

⁴Upon her children also I will have no pity,

because they are children of prostitution.^*

⁵For their mother has prostituted herself;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, “I will go after my lovers;

they give me my bread and my water,

my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”^*

⁶Therefore I will hedge up herⁱ way with thorns,

and I will build a wall against her

so that she cannot find her paths.^*

⁷She shall pursue her lovers

but not overtake them,

and she shall seek them

but shall not find them.

Then she shall say, “I will go

and return to my first husband,

for it was better with me then than now.”^*

⁸She did not know

that it was I who gave her

the grain, the wine, and the oil

and who lavished upon her silver

and gold that they used for Baal.^*

⁹Therefore I will take back

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.

¹⁰Now I will uncover her shame

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.^*

¹¹I will put an end to all her mirth,

her festivals, her new moons, her Sabbaths,

and all her appointed festivals.^*

¹²I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

of which she said,

“These are my pay,

which my lovers have given me.”

I will make them a forest,

and the wild animals shall devour them.^*

¹³I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals,

to whom she offered incense

and decked herself with her rings and jewelry

and went after her lovers

and forgot me, says the Lord.^*

¹⁴Therefore, I will now allure her

and bring her into the wilderness

and speak tenderly to her.^*

¹⁵From there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.^*

¹⁶On that day, says the Lord, you will call me “my husband,” and no longer will you call me “my Baal.”^{j 17}For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.^{* 18}I will make for you^k a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish^l the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you^m lie down in safety.^{* 19}And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.^{* 20}I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.^*

²¹On that day I will answer, says the Lord,

I will answer the heavens,

and they shall answer the earth,

²²and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer Jezreel,^n*

²³and I will sow him^o for myself in the land.

And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,^p

and I will say to Lo-ammi,^q “You are my people,”

and he shall say, “You are my God.”^*

Further Assurances of God’s Redeeming Love

³The Lord said to me again, “Go, love a woman who has a lover and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn 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.^{r* 3}And I said to her, “You must remain as mine for many days; you shall not prostitute yourself; you shall not have intercourse with a man, nor I with you.” ⁴For the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim.^{* 5}Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; they shall come in awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.^*

God Accuses Israel

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel,

for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or loyalty

and no knowledge of God in the land.^*

²Swearing, lying, and murder,

and stealing and adultery break out;

bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land mourns,

and all who live in it languish;

together with the wild animals

and the birds of the air,

even the fish of the sea are perishing.^*

⁴Yet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is my contention, O priest.^s*

⁵You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,

and I will destroy your mother.^*

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from being a priest to me;

and since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.^*

⁷The more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

they changed^t their glory into shame.^*

⁸They feed on the sin of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

⁹And it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.^*

¹⁰They shall eat but not be satisfied;

they shall prostitute themselves but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to devote themselves to^{* 11}prostitution.

The Idolatry of Israel

Wine and new wine

take away the understanding.^*

¹²My people consult a piece of wood,

and their divining rod gives them oracles.

For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray,

and they have prostituted themselves, forsaking their God.^*

¹³They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and make offerings upon the hills,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,

and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.^*

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves

nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,

for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with female attendants;

thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.^*

¹⁵Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel,

do not let Judah become guilty.

Do not enter into Gilgal

or go up to Beth-aven,

and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”^*

¹⁶Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?^*

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols—

let him alone.

¹⁸When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies;

they love lewdness more than their glory.^u*

¹⁹A wind has wrapped them^v in its wings,

and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.^w*