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(A) I am Hosea son of Beeri. When Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah, and when Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] was king of Israel,[b] the Lord spoke this message to me.

Hosea's Family

The Lord said, “Hosea, Israel has betrayed me like an unfaithful wife.[c] Marry such a woman and have children by her.” So I married Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and we had a son.

(B) Then the Lord said, “Hosea, name your son Jezreel,[d] because I will soon punish the descendants of King Jehu of Israel for the murders he committed in Jezreel Valley.[e] I will destroy his kingdom, and in Jezreel Valley I will break the power of Israel.”

Later, Gomer had a daughter, and the Lord said, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah,[f] because I will no longer have mercy and forgive Israel. But I am the Lord God of Judah, and I will have mercy and save Judah by my own power—not by wars and arrows or swords and cavalry.”

After Gomer had stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah, she had another son. Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-Ammi,[g] because these people are not mine, and I am not their God.”

Hope for Israel

10 (C) Someday it will be impossible to count the people of Israel, because there will be as many of them as there are grains of sand along the seashore. They are now called “Not My People,” but in the future they will be called “Children of the Living God.” 11 Israel and Judah will unite and choose one leader. Then they will take back their land, and this will be a great day for Jezreel.[h] So let your brothers be called “My People” and your sisters be called “Shown Mercy.”[i]

The Lord Promises To Punish Israel

Accuse! Accuse your mother!
    She is no longer my wife,
and now I, the Lord,
    am not her husband.
Beg her to give up prostitution
    and stop being unfaithful,[j]
or I will strip her naked
    like the day she was born.
I will make her barren
like a desert,
    and she will die of thirst.
You children are the result
of her unfaithfulness,
    and I'll show you no pity.
Your mother was unfaithful.
She was disgraceful and said,
    “I'll run after my lovers.
Everything comes from them—
    my food and drink,
    my linen and wool,
    my olive oil and wine.”

I, the Lord, will build
a fence of thorns
    to block her path.
She will run after her lovers,
    but not catch them;
she will search,
    but not find them.
Then she will say, “I'll return
to my first husband.
    Life was better then.”
She didn't know that her grain,
wine, and olive oil
    were gifts from me,
as were the gold and silver
    she used in worshiping Baal.[k]

So I'll hold back the harvest
    of grain and grapes.
I'll take back
my wool and my linen
    that cover her body.
10 Then I'll strip her naked
in the sight of her lovers.[l]
    No one can rescue her.

11 I'll stop Israel's celebrations—
no more New Moon Festivals,
    Sabbaths, or other feasts.
12 She said, “My lovers gave me
vineyards and fig trees
    as payment[m] for sex.”

Now I, the Lord, will ruin
    her vineyards and fig trees;
they will become clumps of weeds
    eaten by wild animals.

13 I'll punish her for the days
she worshiped Baal
    and burned incense to him.
I'll punish her for the times
    she forgot about me
and wore jewelry and rings
to attract her lovers.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

The Lord Will Help Israel

14 Israel, I, the Lord,
will lure you into the desert
    and speak gently to you.
15 (D) I will return your vineyards,
and then Trouble Valley[n]
    will become Hopeful Valley.
You will say “Yes” to me
as you did in your youth,
    when leaving Egypt.

16 I promise from that day on, you will call me your husband instead of your master.[o] 17 I will no longer even let you mention the names of those pagan gods that you called “Master.” 18 And I will agree to let you live in peace—you will no longer be attacked by wild animals and birds or by weapons of war. 19 I will accept you as my wife forever, and instead of a bride price[p] I will give you justice, fairness, love, kindness, 20 and faithfulness. Then you will truly know who I am.

21 I will command the sky to send rain on the earth, 22 and it will produce grain, grapes, and olives in Jezreel Valley. 23 (E) I will scatter the seeds and show mercy to Lo-Ruhamah.[q] I will say to Lo-Ammi,[r] “You are my people,” and they will answer, “You are our God.”

God's Love Offers Hope

Once again the Lord spoke to me. And this time he said, “Hosea, fall in love with an unfaithful woman[s] who has a lover. Do this to show that I love the people of Israel, even though they worship idols and enjoy the offering cakes made with fruit.”

So I paid 15 pieces of silver and about 150 kilograms of grain for such a woman. Then I said, “Now you are mine! You will have to remain faithful to me, though it will be a long time before we sleep together.”

It will also be a long time before Israel has a king or before sacrifices are offered at the temple or before there is any way to get guidance from God. But later, Israel will turn back to the Lord their God and to David their king. At that time they will come to the Lord with fear and trembling, and he will be good to them.

Israel Is Unfaithful

Israel, listen
as the Lord accuses
    everyone in the land!
No one is faithful or loyal
    or truly cares about God.
Cursing, dishonesty, murder,
    robbery, unfaithfulness—
these happen all the time.
    Violence is everywhere.
And so your land is a desert.
Every living creature is dying—
    people and wild animals,
    birds and fish.

The Lord Warns the Priests

Don't accuse just anyone!
    Not everyone is at fault.
My case is against you,
    the priests.[t]
You and the prophets
will stumble day and night;
    I'll silence your mothers.
You priests have rejected me,
and my people are destroyed
    by refusing to obey.
Now I'll reject you and forget
your children, because you
    have forgotten my Law.

By adding more of you priests,
you multiply the number
    of people who sin.
Now I'll change your pride
    into shame.
You encourage others to sin,
so you can stuff yourselves
    on their sin offerings.

That's why I will punish
    the people for their deeds,
just as I will punish
    you priests.
10 Their food won't satisfy,
and having sex at pagan shrines
    won't produce children.
My people have rebelled
11 and have been unfaithful
    to me, their Lord.

God Condemns Israel's Idolatry

My people, you are foolish
because of too much pleasure
    and too much wine.
12 You expect wooden idols
and other objects of wood
    to give you advice.
Lusting for sex at pagan shrines
has made you unfaithful
    to me, your God.
13 You offer sacrifices
    on mountaintops and hills,
under oak trees, and wherever
    good shade is found.

Your own daughters
and daughters-in-law
    sell themselves for sex.
14 But I won't punish them.
    You men are to blame,
because you go to prostitutes
and offer sacrifices with them
    at pagan shrines.
Your own foolishness
    will lead to your ruin.
15 Israel, you are unfaithful,
    but don't lead Judah to sin.
Stop worshiping at Gilgal
    or at sinful Bethel.[u]
And quit making promises
in my name—the name
    of the living Lord.
16 You are nothing more
    than a stubborn cow—
so stubborn that I, the Lord,
cannot feed you like lambs
    in an open pasture.

17 You people of Israel[v]
are charmed by[w] idols.
    Leave those people alone!
18 You get drunk, then sleep
    with prostitutes;
you would rather be vulgar
    than lead a decent life.[x]
19 And so you will be swept away[y]
in a whirlwind
    for sacrificing to idols.

Footnotes

  1. 1.1 Jehoash: The Hebrew text has “Joash,” another spelling of the name.
  2. 1.1 kings of Judah … king of Israel: Uzziah (781–740 b.c.), Jotham (740-736), Ahaz (736–716), Hezekiah (716–687), and Jeroboam II (783–743).
  3. 1.2 unfaithful wife: In some Canaanite religions of Old Testament times, young women were expected to have sex with the worshipers of their god before marriage. Such women were called “temple prostitutes.” Many of the Israelite women did this same thing, and Hosea is told to marry one of them to show that the nation has turned from the Lord to worship idols.
  4. 1.4 Jezreel: In Hebrew “Jezreel” means “God scatters (seed).” Here the name is used as a threat (meaning the Lord will punish Israel by scattering its people), while in verse 11 it is used as a promise (meaning the Lord will bless Israel by giving their nation many people, just as a big harvest comes when many seeds are scattered in a field).
  5. 1.4 murders … Valley: Jehu murdered the wife and relatives of King Ahab (see 2 Kings 9.15—10.14).
  6. 1.6 Lo-Ruhamah: In Hebrew “Lo-Ruhamah” means “No Mercy.”
  7. 1.9 Lo-Ammi: In Hebrew “Lo-Ammi” means “Not My People.”
  8. 1.11 Jezreel: See the note at 1.4.
  9. 2.1 My People … Shown Mercy: In Hebrew “My People” is “Ammi” and “Shown Mercy” is “Ruhamah” (see Lo-Ruhamah in 1.6 and Lo-Ammi in 1.9).
  10. 2.2 prostitution … unfaithful: See the note at 1.2.
  11. 2.8 Baal: A Canaanite god of fertility.
  12. 2.10 I'll strip … lovers: Or “I'll show her lovers how disgusting she is.”
  13. 2.12 fig trees … payment: Hosea uses an unusual word for “fig tree,” which is spelled something like the word for “payment.”
  14. 2.15 Trouble Valley: Or “Achor Valley.” The exact location of the valley is unknown, but in Hebrew “Achor” sounds like “Achan,” who brought trouble on Israel by disobeying the Lord (see Joshua 7.24-26).
  15. 2.16 husband … master: In Hebrew the word “master” is the same as the name of the god Baal. But the Lord promises that his people will have a deep personal relationship with him (like a devoted wife and husband) rather than merely a legal tie (like a wife and her “master”).
  16. 2.19 bride price: It was the custom for the husband to pay his wife's parents a bride price. Instead of money, the Lord will give much better benefits to Israel.
  17. 2.23 Lo-Ruhamah: See the note at 1.6.
  18. 2.23 Lo-Ammi: See the note at 1.9.
  19. 3.1 unfaithful woman: This may refer to Gomer, the woman Hosea married (see 1.3), or it may refer to another woman.
  20. 4.4 priests: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 4. Hosea may have had in mind only one priest, possibly the chief priest.
  21. 4.15 sinful Bethel: The Hebrew text has “Beth-Aven,” which means “house of sin” or “house of nothing,” referring to “Bethel,” which means “house of God.”
  22. 4.17 Israel: The Hebrew text has “Ephraim,” the leading tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel, which sometimes stands for the whole kingdom.
  23. 4.17 charmed by: Or “joined to.”
  24. 4.18 life: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 18.
  25. 4.19 And so … swept away: Or “And so you will be ashamed.”

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