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Hosea 1-4
New Living Translation
Hosea 1-4
New Living Translation
1 The Lord gave this message to Hosea son of Beeri during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] was king of Israel.
Hosea’s Wife and Children
2 When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute,[b] so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”
3 So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son. 4 And the Lord said, “Name the child Jezreel, for I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel. In fact, I will bring an end to Israel’s independence. 5 I will break its military power in the Jezreel Valley.”
6 Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.”
8 After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. 9 And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.
10 [c]“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ 11 Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel[d]—when God will again plant his people in his land.
2 [e]“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’
Charges against an Unfaithful Wife
2 “But now bring charges against Israel—your mother—
for she is no longer my wife,
and I am no longer her husband.
Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face
and the clothing that exposes her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her as naked
as she was on the day she was born.
I will leave her to die of thirst,
as in a dry and barren wilderness.
4 And I will not love her children,
for they were conceived in prostitution.
5 Their mother is a shameless prostitute
and became pregnant in a shameful way.
She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers
and sell myself to them for food and water,
for clothing of wool and linen,
and for olive oil and drinks.’
6 “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.
I will block her path with a wall
to make her lose her way.
7 When she runs after her lovers,
she won’t be able to catch them.
She will search for them
but not find them.
Then she will think,
‘I might as well return to my husband,
for I was better off with him than I am now.’
8 She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has—
the grain, the new wine, the olive oil;
I even gave her silver and gold.
But she gave all my gifts to Baal.
9 “But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine
I generously provided each harvest season.
I will take away the wool and linen clothing
I gave her to cover her nakedness.
10 I will strip her naked in public,
while all her lovers look on.
No one will be able
to rescue her from my hands.
11 I will put an end to her annual festivals,
her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days—
all her appointed festivals.
12 I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees,
things she claims her lovers gave her.
I will let them grow into tangled thickets,
where only wild animals will eat the fruit.
13 I will punish her for all those times
when she burned incense to her images of Baal,
when she put on her earrings and jewels
and went out to look for her lovers
but forgot all about me,”
says the Lord.
The Lord’s Love for Unfaithful Israel
14 “But then I will win her back once again.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her there.
15 I will return her vineyards to her
and transform the Valley of Trouble[f] into a gateway of hope.
She will give herself to me there,
as she did long ago when she was young,
when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
16 When that day comes,” says the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’
instead of ‘my master.’[g]
17 O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips,
and you will never mention them again.
18 On that day I will make a covenant
with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky
and the animals that scurry along the ground
so they will not harm you.
I will remove all weapons of war from the land,
all swords and bows,
so you can live unafraid
in peace and safety.
19 I will make you my wife forever,
showing you righteousness and justice,
unfailing love and compassion.
20 I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
and you will finally know me as the Lord.
21 “In that day, I will answer,”
says the Lord.
“I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds.
And the sky will answer the earth with rain.
22 Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries
of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees.
And they in turn will answer,
‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’
23 At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites
and raise them for myself.
I will show love
to those I called ‘Not loved.’[h]
And to those I called ‘Not my people,’[i]
I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’
And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”
Hosea’s Wife Is Redeemed
3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she[j] commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.[k]”
2 So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver[l] and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.[m] 3 Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me.[n]”
4 This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests,[o] or even idols! 5 But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king.[p] In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.
The Lord’s Case against Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel!
The Lord has brought charges against you, saying:
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,
no knowledge of God in your land.
2 You make vows and break them;
you kill and steal and commit adultery.
There is violence everywhere—
one murder after another.
3 That is why your land is in mourning,
and everyone is wasting away.
Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea are disappearing.
4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else
and try to pass the blame!
My complaint, you priests,
is with you.[q]
5 So you will stumble in broad daylight,
and your false prophets will fall with you in the night.
And I will destroy Israel, your mother.
6 My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me.
Since you priests refuse to know me,
I refuse to recognize you as my priests.
Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,
I will forget to bless your children.
7 The more priests there are,
the more they sin against me.
They have exchanged the glory of God
for the shame of idols.[r]
8 “When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed.
So the priests are glad when the people sin!
9 ‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’
So now I will punish both priests and people
for their wicked deeds.
10 They will eat and still be hungry.
They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it,
for they have deserted the Lord
11 to worship other gods.
“Wine has robbed my people
of their understanding.
12 They ask a piece of wood for advice!
They think a stick can tell them the future!
Longing after idols
has made them foolish.
They have played the prostitute,
serving other gods and deserting their God.
13 They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops.
They go up into the hills to burn incense
in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees.
“That is why your daughters turn to prostitution,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 But why should I punish them
for their prostitution and adultery?
For your men are doing the same thing,
sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes.
O foolish people! You refuse to understand,
so you will be destroyed.
15 “Though you, Israel, are a prostitute,
may Judah not be guilty of such things.
Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven,[s]
and do not take oaths there in the Lord’s name.
16 Israel is stubborn,
like a stubborn heifer.
So should the Lord feed her
like a lamb in a lush pasture?
17 Leave Israel[t] alone,
because she is married to idolatry.
18 When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking,
off they go to find some prostitutes.
They love shame more than honor.[u]
19 So a mighty wind will sweep them away.
Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.
Footnotes
- 1:1 Hebrew Joash, a variant spelling of Jehoash.
- 1:2 Or a promiscuous woman.
- 1:10 Verses 1:10-11 are numbered 2:1-2 in Hebrew text.
- 1:11 Jezreel means “God plants.”
- 2:1 Verses 2:1-23 are numbered 2:3-25 in Hebrew text.
- 2:15 Hebrew valley of Achor.
- 2:16 Hebrew ‘my baal.’
- 2:23a Hebrew Lo-ruhamah; see 1:6.
- 2:23b Hebrew Lo-ammi; see 1:9.
- 3:1a Or Go and love a woman who.
- 3:1b Hebrew love their raisin cakes.
- 3:2a Hebrew 15 [shekels] of silver, about 6 ounces or 171 grams in weight.
- 3:2b As in Greek version, which reads a homer of barley and a wineskin full of wine; Hebrew reads a homer [5 bushels or 220 liters] of barley and a lethek [2.5 bushels or 110 liters] of barley.
- 3:3 Or and I will live with you.
- 3:4 Hebrew ephod, the vest worn by the priest.
- 3:5 Hebrew to David their king.
- 4:4 Hebrew Your people are like those with a complaint against the priests.
- 4:7 As in Syriac version and an ancient Hebrew tradition; Masoretic Text reads I will turn their glory into shame.
- 4:15 Beth-aven means “house of wickedness”; it is being used as another name for Bethel, which means “house of God.”
- 4:17 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 4:18 As in Greek version; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Hosea 1-4
New International Version
Hosea 1-4
New International Version
1 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[a] 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 promiscuous(I) woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness(J) to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer(K) 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 Gomer(N) 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 leader(X) and will come up out of the land,(Y) for great will be the day of Jezreel.[c](Z)
2 [d]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’(AA)
Israel Punished and Restored
2 “Rebuke your mother,(AB) rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous(AC) look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip(AD) her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;(AE)
I will make her like a desert,(AF)
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,(AG)
because they are the children of adultery.(AH)
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,(AI)
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’(AJ)
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.(AK)
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.(AL)
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband(AM) as at first,(AN)
for then I was better off(AO) than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged(AP) that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,(AQ)
who lavished on her the silver and gold(AR)—
which they used for Baal.(AS)
9 “Therefore I will take away my grain(AT) when it ripens,
and my new wine(AU) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose(AV) her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;(AW)
no one will take her out of my hands.(AX)
11 I will stop(AY) all her celebrations:(AZ)
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.(BA)
12 I will ruin her vines(BB) and her fig trees,(BC)
which she said were her pay from her lovers;(BD)
I will make them a thicket,(BE)
and wild animals will devour them.(BF)
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense(BG) to the Baals;(BH)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,(BI)
and went after her lovers,(BJ)
but me she forgot,(BK)”
declares the Lord.(BL)
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness(BM)
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor[e](BN) a door of hope.
There she will respond[f](BO) as in the days of her youth,(BP)
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.(BQ)
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;(BR)
you will no longer call me ‘my master.[g]’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;(BS)
no longer will their names be invoked.(BT)
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.(BU)
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish(BV) from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.(BW)
19 I will betroth(BX) you to me forever;
I will betroth you in[h] righteousness and justice,(BY)
in[i] love and compassion.(BZ)
20 I will betroth you in[j] faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge(CA) the Lord.(CB)
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond(CC) 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,(CD)
and they will respond to Jezreel.[k](CE)
23 I will plant(CF) her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[l](CG)’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[m]’ ‘You are my people’;(CH)
and they will say, ‘You are my God.(CI)’”
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.(CJ) Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.(CK)”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels[n] of silver and about a homer and a lethek[o] 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,(CL) without sacrifice(CM) or sacred stones,(CN) without ephod(CO) or household gods.(CP) 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek(CQ) the Lord their God and David their king.(CR) They will come trembling(CS) to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.(CT)
The Charge Against Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
because the Lord has a charge(CU) to bring
against you who live in the land:(CV)
“There is no faithfulness,(CW) no love,
no acknowledgment(CX) of God in the land.(CY)
2 There is only cursing,[p] lying(CZ) and murder,(DA)
stealing(DB) and adultery;(DC)
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.(DD)
3 Because of this the land dries up,(DE)
and all who live in it waste away;(DF)
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea are swept away.(DG)
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.(DH)
5 You stumble(DI) day and night,
and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother(DJ)—
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.(DK)
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law(DL) 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 God[q](DM) for something disgraceful.(DN)
8 They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.(DO)
9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.(DP)
I will punish both of them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.(DQ)
10 “They will eat but not have enough;(DR)
they will engage in prostitution(DS) but not flourish,
because they have deserted(DT) the Lord
to give themselves 11 to prostitution;(DU)
old wine(DV) and new wine
take away their understanding.(DW)
12 My people consult a wooden idol,(DX)
and a diviner’s rod speaks to them.(DY)
A spirit of prostitution(DZ) leads them astray;(EA)
they are unfaithful(EB) to their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops
and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak,(EC) poplar and terebinth,
where the shade is pleasant.(ED)
Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution(EE)
and your daughters-in-law to adultery.(EF)
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 harlots(EG)
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes(EH)—
a people without understanding(EI) will come to ruin!(EJ)
15 “Though you, Israel, commit adultery,
do not let Judah become guilty.
“Do not go to Gilgal;(EK)
do not go up to Beth Aven.[r](EL)
And do not swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’(EM)
16 The Israelites are stubborn,(EN)
like a stubborn heifer.(EO)
How then can the Lord pasture them
like lambs(EP) 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 whirlwind(EQ) will sweep them away,
and their sacrifices will bring them shame.(ER)
Footnotes
- Hosea 1:1 Hebrew Joash, a variant of Jehoash
- Hosea 1:9 Or your I am
- Hosea 1:11 In Hebrew texts 1:10,11 is numbered 2:1,2.
- Hosea 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1-23 is numbered 2:3-25.
- Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble.
- Hosea 2:15 Or sing
- Hosea 2:16 Hebrew baal
- Hosea 2:19 Or with
- Hosea 2:19 Or with
- Hosea 2:20 Or with
- Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)
- Hosea 3:2 That is, about 6 ounces or about 170 grams
- Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek possibly weighed about 430 pounds or about 195 kilograms.
- Hosea 4:2 That is, to pronounce a curse on
- Hosea 4:7 Syriac (see also an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition); Masoretic Text me; / I will exchange their glory
- Hosea 4:15 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).
New Living Translation (NLT)
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