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The 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

When 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.”(A) So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

And 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.(B) On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”(C)

She 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.(D) 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.”(E)

When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then 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

10 [e]Yet 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.”(F) 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.(G)

[f]Say to your brothers, “Ammi,”[g] and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”[h]

Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption

Plead 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,(H)
or 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.(I)
Upon her children also I will have no pity,
    because they are children of prostitution.(J)
For 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.”(K)
Therefore I will hedge up her[i] way with thorns,
    and I will build a wall against her
    so that she cannot find her paths.(L)
She 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.”(M)
She 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.(N)
Therefore 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.
10 Now I will uncover her shame
    in the sight of her lovers,
    and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.(O)
11 I will put an end to all her mirth,
    her festivals, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
    and all her appointed festivals.(P)
12 I 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.(Q)
13 I 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.(R)

14 Therefore, I will now allure her
    and bring her into the wilderness
    and speak tenderly to her.(S)
15 From 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.(T)

16 On 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.(U) 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.(V) 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.(W) 20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.(X)

21 On that day I will answer, says the Lord,
    I will answer the heavens,
    and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and they shall answer Jezreel,[n](Y)
23     and 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.”(Z)

Further Assurances of God’s Redeeming Love

The 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.”(AA) So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barley and a measure of wine.[r](AB) 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.” For the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim.(AC) 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.(AD)

God Accuses Israel

Hear 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.(AE)
Swearing, lying, and murder,
    and stealing and adultery break out;
    bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Therefore 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.(AF)

Yet let no one contend,
    and let none accuse,
    for with you is my contention, O priest.[s](AG)
You shall stumble by day;
    the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,
    and I will destroy your mother.(AH)
My 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.(AI)

The more they increased,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they changed[t] their glory into shame.(AJ)
They feed on the sin of my people;
    they are greedy for their iniquity.
And it shall be like people, like priest;
    I will punish them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.(AK)
10 They shall eat but not be satisfied;
    they shall prostitute themselves but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to devote themselves to(AL) 11     prostitution.

The Idolatry of Israel

Wine and new wine
    take away the understanding.(AM)
12 My 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.(AN)
13 They 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.(AO)
14 I 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.(AP)

15 Though 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.”(AQ)
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
    Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
    like a lamb in a broad pasture?(AR)

17 Ephraim is joined to idols—
    let him alone.
18 When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies;
    they love lewdness more than their glory.[u](AS)
19 A wind has wrapped them[v] in its wings,
    and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.[w](AT)

Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah

Hear this, O priests!
    Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
    For the judgment pertains to you,
for you have been a snare at Mizpah
    and a net spread upon Tabor(AU)
and a pit dug deep in Shittim,[x]
    but I will punish all of them.

I know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me,
for now, O Ephraim, you have prostituted yourself;
    Israel is defiled.(AV)
Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
For the spirit of prostitution is within them,
    and they do not know the Lord.(AW)

Israel’s pride testifies against him;
    Ephraim[y] stumbles in his guilt;
    Judah also stumbles with them.(AX)
With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him;
    he has withdrawn from them.(AY)
They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord,
    for they have borne illegitimate children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them along with their fields.(AZ)

Blow the horn in Gibeah,
    the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;
    look behind you, Benjamin!(BA)
Ephraim shall become a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I declare what is sure.(BB)
10 The princes of Judah have become
    like those who remove the landmark;
on them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.(BC)
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after vanity.[z]
12 Therefore I am like maggots to Ephraim
    and like rottenness to the house of Judah.(BD)
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness
    and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria
    and sent to the great king.[aa]
But he is not able to cure you
    or heal your wound.(BE)
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim
    and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.(BF)
15 I will return again to my place
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
    In their distress they will beg my favor:(BG)

A Call to Repentance

“Come, let us return to the Lord,
    for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
    he has struck down, and he will bind us up.(BH)
After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
    his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
    like the spring rains that water the earth.”(BI)

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes away early.(BJ)
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
    and my[ab] judgment goes forth as the light.(BK)
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.(BL)

But at[ac] Adam they transgressed the covenant;
    there they dealt faithlessly with me.
Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    tracked with blood.
As robbers lie in wait[ad] for someone,
    so the priests are banded together;[ae]
they murder on the road to Shechem;
    they commit a monstrous crime.(BM)
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    Ephraim’s prostitution is there; Israel is defiled.(BN)

11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,(BO)

when I would heal Israel,
    the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the wicked deeds of Samaria,
for they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.(BP)
But they do not consider
    that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them;
    they are before my face.(BQ)
By their wickedness they make the king glad,
    and the officials by their treachery.
They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker does not need to stir the fire
    from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.(BR)
On the day of our king the officials
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.(BS)
For they are kindled[af] like an oven; their heart burns within them;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
    none of them calls upon me.(BT)

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Foreigners devour his strength,
    but he does not know it;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    but he does not know it.(BU)
10 Israel’s pride testifies against[ag] him;
    yet they do not return to the Lord their God
    or seek him, for all this.(BV)

Futile Reliance on the Nations

11 Ephraim has become like a dove,
    silly and without sense;
    they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria.(BW)
12 As they go, I will cast my net over them;
    I will bring them down like birds of the air;
    I will discipline them according to the report made to their assembly.[ah](BX)
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
    but they speak lies against me.(BY)

14 They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but they wail upon their beds;
they gash themselves for grain and wine;
    they rebel against me.(BZ)
15 It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they plot evil against me.(CA)
16 They turn to that which does not profit;[ai]
    they have become like a defective bow;
their officials shall fall by the sword
    because of the rage of their tongue.
So much for their babbling in the land of Egypt.(CB)

Footnotes

  1. 1.4 That is, God sows
  2. 1.6 That is, not pitied
  3. 1.9 That is, not my people
  4. 1.9 Heb I am not yours
  5. 1.10 2.1 in Heb
  6. 2.1 2.3 in Heb
  7. 2.1 That is, my people
  8. 2.1 That is, pitied
  9. 2.6 Gk Syr: Heb your
  10. 2.16 That is, “my master”
  11. 2.18 Heb them
  12. 2.18 Heb break
  13. 2.18 Heb them
  14. 2.22 That is, God sows
  15. 2.23 Cn: Heb her
  16. 2.23 That is, not pitied
  17. 2.23 That is, not my people
  18. 3.2 Gk: Heb a homer of barley and a lethek of barley
  19. 4.4 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  20. 4.7 Tg Syr: MT I will change
  21. 4.18 Cn Compare Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  22. 4.19 Heb her
  23. 4.19 Gk Syr: Heb sacrifices
  24. 5.2 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  25. 5.5 Heb Israel and Ephraim
  26. 5.11 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  27. 5.13 Cn: Heb to a king who will contend
  28. 6.5 Gk Syr: Heb your
  29. 6.7 Cn: Heb like
  30. 6.9 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  31. 6.9 Syr: Heb are a company
  32. 7.6 Gk Syr: Heb brought near
  33. 7.10 Or humbles
  34. 7.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  35. 7.16 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain