Hosea 1–2

The word of the Lord that came^a to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah,^b Jotham,^c Ahaz^d and Hezekiah,^e kings of Judah,^f and during the reign of Jeroboam^g son of Jehoash king of Israel:^h

Hosea’s Wife and Children

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous^a woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness^b to the Lord.” So he married Gomer^c daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel,^d 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. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.^e”

Gomer^f conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”),^g for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel,^h that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow,ⁱ sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God.^j”

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,^k Gomer had another son. 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.^l

^*“Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.^m In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’^no The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together;^p they will appoint one leader^q and will come up out of the land,^r for great will be the day of Jezreel.^s

^*“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’^t

Israel Punished and Restored

“Rebuke your mother,^a rebuke her,

for she is not my wife,

and I am not her husband.

Let her remove the adulterous^b look from her face

and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

Otherwise I will strip^c her naked

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

I will make her like a desert,^e

turn her into a parched land,

and slay her with thirst.

I will not show my love to her children,^f

because they are the children of adultery.^g

Their mother has been unfaithful

and has conceived them in disgrace.

She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,^h

who give me my food and my water,

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

Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;

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

She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;

she will look for them but not find them.^k

Then she will say,

‘I will go back to my husband^l as at first,^m

for then I was better offⁿ than now.’

She has not acknowledged^o that I was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,^p

who lavished on her the silver and gold^q—

which they used for Baal.^r

“Therefore I will take away my grain^s when it ripens,

and my new wine^t when it is ready.

I will take back my wool and my linen,

intended to cover her nakedness.

So now I will expose^u her lewdness

before the eyes of her lovers;^v

no one will take her out of my hands.^w

I will stop^x all her celebrations:^y

her yearly festivals, her New Moons,

her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.^z

I will ruin her vines^a and her fig trees,^b

which she said were her pay from her lovers;^c

I will make them a thicket,^d

and wild animals will devour them.^e

I will punish her for the days

she burned incense^f to the Baals;^g

she decked herself with rings and jewelry,^h

and went after her lovers,ⁱ

but me she forgot,^j”

declares the Lord.^k

“Therefore I am now going to allure her;

I will lead her into the wilderness^l

and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her back her vineyards,

and will make the Valley of Achor^m a door of hope.

There she will respondⁿ as in the days of her youth,^o

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.^p

“In that day,” declares the Lord,

“you will call me ‘my husband’;^q

you will no longer call me ‘my master.’

I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;^r

no longer will their names be invoked.^s

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.^t

Bow and sword and battle

I will abolish^u from the land,

so that all may lie down in safety.^v

I will betroth^w you to me forever;

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,^x

in love and compassion.^y

I will betroth you in faithfulness,

and you will acknowledge^z the Lord.^a

“In that day I will respond,”

declares the Lord—

“I will respond^b to the skies,

and they will respond to the earth;

and the earth will respond to the grain,

the new wine and the olive oil,^c

and they will respond to Jezreel.^d

I will plant^e her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.^f’

I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;^g

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