- And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
- And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
- Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people — there it shall be said unto them, You are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
- Say unto your brethren, Ammi — and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
- And I will not have mercy upon her children, for they are the children of whoredoms; for their mother has played the harlot, she that conceived them has done shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them.
- Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now — for she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return and take away my grain in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I reveal her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease; her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees whereof she has said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me, and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim wherein she burned incense to them, and she adorned herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot me, says the Lord.
- Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortingly unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
- And it shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call me Ishi, and shall call me no more Baali — for I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth you unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth you unto me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.
- And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, says the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them who were not my people, You are my people — and they shall say, You are my God.
- Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, and a half homer of barley. And I said unto her, You shall abide for me many days, you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man; so will I also be for you. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without idols. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
HOSEA
Chapter 1
The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — kings of Judah — and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea.