Hosea chapter 1
Hosea's unfaithful wife, and their children
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land is committing whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, 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.
5 And in that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to her, “Name him Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, but I will utterly destroy them.
7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.”
8 After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.
9 Then God said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.”
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “You are children of the living God.”
11 And the children of Judah and of Israel shall gather together, and appoint one leader, and shall go up out of the land; for the day of Jezreel shall be great.
Hosea Chapter 2
Jehovah's love for his unfaithful people
1 Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi,’ and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah.’
2 Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. Put away her whoring from her face and her adultery from between her breasts,
3 lest I strip her naked and make her as on the day of her birth; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst.
4 I will have no compassion on her children, for they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother played the whore; she who bore them defiled herself, saying, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns and build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will pursue her lovers, but will not overtake them; she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, for I was better off then than now.’
8 But she did not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, wine, and oil, and who multiplied the silver and gold that were offered to Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its season and my wine in its ripeness, and I will take away my wool and linen that I gave to cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will expose her folly in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
11 I will put an end to all her joy, her festivals, her New Moon celebrations, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.
12 I will cut down her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, the wages my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a thicket, and the beasts of the field will eat them.
13 “I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals, adorned herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” declares the Lord. “
14 But now I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up from Egypt.”
16 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘Ishi,’ and no longer will you call me ‘Baali.
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from their mouths, and their names will no longer be mentioned.
18 “At that time I will make a covenant for you with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the reptiles of the earth. I will abolish bow and sword and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.”
21 “At that time I will answer,” declares the Lord, “I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth.
22 The earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil, and they will answer Jezreel.
23 I will sow her for myself in the land and have compassion on Lo-ruhamah; And I will say to Lo-ammi: You are my people, and he will say: My God.
Hosea Chapter 3
Hosea and the adulteress
1 The Lord said to me again, “Go, love a woman who is loved by another man, even though she is an adulteress, as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley.
3 I said to her, “You will be mine for many days; you must not play the harlot or have another man, and I will treat you the same way.”
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice, without a sacred pillar, without an ephod or household idols.
5 After that, the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. In the last days they will fear the Lord and his goodness.
Hosea Chapter 4
Jehovah's controversy with Israel
1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, for the Lord has a case against the people of the land, because there is no faithfulness, no love, no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, lying, murdering, stealing, and committing adultery are rampant, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away, along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea die.
4 Let no one quarrel or rebuke another, for your people are like those who resist a priest.
5 You will fall by day, and the prophet will fall with you by night; I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 According to their greatness, so they have sinned against me; I also will turn their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people, and in their wickedness they lift up their souls.
9 And the people will be like the priest; I will punish them for their ways, and I will repay them according to their deeds.
10 They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will commit adultery, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord.
11 Adultery, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
12 My people consult their wooden idol, and the wood answers them; for a spirit of adultery has led them astray, and they have forsaken their God to commit adultery.
13 On the mountaintops they sacrificed, and burned incense on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and elms, where there was pleasant shade; therefore your daughters will commit adultery, and your daughters-in-law will commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit fornication, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for they themselves go off with prostitutes, and sacrifice with wicked women; therefore, a people without understanding will fall.
15 If you commit adultery, Israel, at least let Judah not sin; do not go to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, nor swear, “As the Lord lives.”
16 For Israel has turned away like a wayward heifer; will the Lord now feed them like lambs in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim is given to idols; leave him alone.
18 Their drink has become corrupt; they have committed adultery continually; their princes love shameful things.
19 The wind has bound them in its wings, and they will be ashamed of their sacrifices.
Hosea Chapter 5
Punishment for Israel's apostasy
1 Hear this, O priests, and pay attention; O house of Israel, and O house of the king, listen; for judgment is upon you, for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.
2 And by offering sacrifices they have gone down to the depths; therefore I will punish them all.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot, and Israel has defiled itself.
4 They do not consider turning to their God, for a spirit of whoredom is among them, and they do not know the Lord.
5 The pride of Israel will contradict him to his face; Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their sin, and Judah also will stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and their herds they will go seeking the Lord, but they will not find him; he has departed from them.
7 They have transgressed against the Lord, for they have borne strange children; Now in a single month they and their inheritances will be consumed.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; sound the alarm in Beth-aven; tremble, O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of punishment; I have made the truth known among the tribes of Israel.
10 The princes of Judah were like those who move boundary stones; I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he chose to follow worthless idols.
12 So I will be like a moth to Ephraim, and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 Ephraim will see his sickness, and Judah his wound; then Ephraim will go to Assyria, and send to King Jareb; but he will not be able to heal you, nor cure your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah; I, I will tear away and go away; I will take away, and there will be no one to deliver.
The insincerity of Israel's repentance
15 I will go about and return to my place, until they acknowledge their sin and seek my face. In their distress they will seek me.
Hosea Chapter 6
1 Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.
4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like early dew that vanishes.
5 Therefore I cut them off by the prophets; with the words of my mouth I slew them, and your judgments are like the dawn.
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they have been unfaithful to me.
8 Gilead, a city of evildoers, stained with blood.
9 Like robbers lying in wait for a man, so a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem; they have committed abominations.
10 I have seen uncleanness in the house of Israel; there Ephraim has committed fornication, and Israel has defiled itself.
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore the fortunes of my people.
Hosea Chapter 7
Iniquity and rebellion of Israel
1 While I was healing Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they practiced deceit; a thief breaks in, and a robber plunders outside.
2 They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness; now their deeds surround them; they are before me.
3 With their wickedness they make the king glad, and the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers; they are like a furnace heated by the baker, who ceases to stir the fire after the dough is kneaded, until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes made him sick with cups of wine; he stretched out his hand with the mockers.
6 They applied their hearts like a furnace to their schemes; all night their baker sleeps, but in the morning it blazes like a flame of fire.
7 They all burn like a furnace; they devour their judges; all their kings have fallen; there is no one among them who cries out to me.
8 Ephraim has mingled with the other nations; Ephraim is a cake not turned over.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he did not know it; even gray hairs have covered him, and he did not know it.
10 And the pride of Israel will testify against him to his face; and they did not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him in spite of all this.
11 Ephraim was like a foolish dove, without understanding; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will spread my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will punish them according to what has been announced in their congregations.
13 Woe to them! For they have strayed from me; destruction will come upon them, because they have rebelled against me; I redeemed them, and they have spoken lies against me.
14 They did not cry out to me with their hearts when they cried out on their beds; they gathered together for grain and new wine, but rebelled against me.
15 Though I taught them and strengthened their arms, they plotted evil against me.
16 They returned, but not to the Most High; they were like a deceitful bow; their princes fell by the sword because of the pride of their tongues; this will be their reproach in the land of Egypt.
Hosea Chapter 8
Rebuke of Israel's idolatry
1 Put the trumpet to your mouth. Like an eagle it comes against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.
2 Israel will cry out to me, “Our God, we have known you!”
3 Israel has rejected good; an enemy pursues them.
4 They set up kings, but not by my decree; they appointed princes, but I did not know it. From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, that they may be destroyed.
5 Your calf, O Samaria, has turned you far away; my anger burned against them until they could not attain purification.
6 For this calf also belongs to Israel, and a craftsman made it; it is not God. Therefore the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.
7 For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind; they will have no harvest, nor will their stalk produce flour; and if it does, strangers will eat it.
8 Israel will be devoured; Soon they will be among the nations like a vessel that is not valued.
9 For they went up to Assyria, like a wild donkey alone; Ephraim hired lovers for wages.
10 Though they hire themselves out among the nations, now I will gather them together, and they will be afflicted for a little while with the burden of the king and the princes.
11 For Ephraim multiplied altars for sinning; he had altars for sinning.
12 I wrote for them the great things of my law, and they were considered a strange thing.
13 In the sacrifices of my offerings they sacrificed meat and ate it; the Lord did not delight in them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish them for their sin; they will return to Egypt.
14 So Israel forgot his Maker and built temples, and Judah multiplied fortified cities; but I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their palaces.
Hosea Chapter 9
Punishment for Israel's persistent unfaithfulness
1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, until you are jubilant like the nations, for you have played the harlot by turning away from your God; you have loved the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.
2 The threshing floor and the winepress will not sustain them, and their new wine will fail them.
3 They will not remain in the land of the Lord, but Ephraim will return to Egypt and Assyria, where they will eat unclean food.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings to the Lord, nor will their sacrifices be pleasing to him; they will be like the bread of mourners to them; all who eat of them will be unclean. Their bread will be for themselves; it will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed feast, on the day of the Lord’s festival?
6 For behold, they have gone away because of destruction. Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Nettles will overtake their precious silver, and thorns will grow up in their dwellings.
7 The days of punishment have come, the days of retribution have come; and Israel will know it. The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is senseless, because of the multitude of your wickedness and great hatred.
8 Ephraim is a watchman to my God; the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways, a hateful thing in the house of his God.
9 They have sunk to the lowest depths in their corruption, as in the days of Gibeah; now he will remember their iniquity, he will punish their sin.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel; like the first ripe figs on the fig tree in its early stages I saw your ancestors. They went to Baal-peor, they turned aside to shame, and became as abominable as that which they loved.
11 The glory of Ephraim will fly away like a bird, so that there will be no births, no pregnancies, no conception.
12 And if his children grow up, I will cut them off from among men, for woe to them also when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I see it, is like Tyre, situated in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his children to be slaughtered.
14 Give them, O Lord, what you will give them; give them a miscarriage and dry breasts.
15 All their wickedness was in Gilgal; there I abhorred them; because of the wickedness of their deeds I will cast them out of my house; I will no longer love them; all their princes are treacherous.
16 Ephraim is stricken, his root is dried up, he will no longer bear fruit; even if they bear children, I will slay the desirable offspring of their womb.
17 My God will reject them, because they did not listen to him; and they will wander among the nations.
Hosea Chapter 10
1 Israel is a luxuriant vine, yielding abundant fruit for itself; as its fruit increased, so did its altars; as its land grew richer, so did its idols.
2 Their hearts are divided. Now they will be found guilty; the Lord will tear down their altars and destroy their idols.
3 Surely they will say now, “We have no king, for we did not fear the Lord; and what could a king do for us?”
4 They have sworn falsely when they made a covenant; therefore, judgment will spring up like wormwood in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria will be terrified because of the calves of Beth-aven; for their people will mourn over the calf, and their priests who rejoiced in its glory, which will be utterly destroyed.
6 It will even be carried to Assyria as a gift to King Jareb; Ephraim will be put to shame, and Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
7 Samaria’s king was cut off like foam on the surface of the waters.
8 The high places of Aven will be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorn and thistle will grow up on their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; there they stood; they did not take the battle at Gibeah against the wicked.
10 I will punish them when I please; and nations will gather against them when they are bound for their double sin.
11 Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, but I will pass over her smooth neck; I will yoke Ephraim; Judah will plow, Jacob will break up his clods.
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
13 You have plowed wickedness, and reaped iniquity; you will eat the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men.
14 Therefore, tumult will arise among your people, and all your strongholds will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, when the mother was destroyed with her children.
15 So Beth-el will do to you, because of your great wickedness; by morning the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
Hosea Chapter 11
God has compassion on his stubborn people
1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them, the more they went away from me; they sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down food before them.
5 They will not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria will be their king, because they refused to repent.
6 The sword will fall on their cities and devour their villages; it will devour them because of their own devices.
7 My people are still in rebellion against me; though they call me the Most High, not one of them will exalt me.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah, or treat you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not a man—the Holy One in your midst; I will not enter the city.
10 They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.
11 Like birds they will come swiftly from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord.
12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. Judah still rules with God, and is faithful to the saints.
Hosea Chapter 12
Ephraim rebuked for his falsehood and oppression
1 Ephraim feeds on the wind, and follows the east wind; lies and destruction increase continually; for they made a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried to Egypt.
2 The Lord has a charge against Judah to punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his strength he prevailed against the angel.
4 He prevailed against the angel and prevailed; he wept and pleaded with him; he found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us.
5 But the Lord is the God of hosts; the Lord is his name.
6 You therefore return to your God; keep mercy and justice, and trust in your God continually.
7 A merchant who uses false scales in his hand, a lover of oppression,
8 Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have acquired wealth for myself; no one will find iniquity in me, nor sin in all my labors.”
9 But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; I will make you dwell in tents again, as in the days of the festival.
10 I have spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied the prophecy, and through the prophets I have used parables.
11 Is Gilead wickedness? Surely they are worthless; at Gilgal they sacrificed oxen, and their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.
12 But Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel served to acquire a wife, and to acquire a wife he became a shepherd.
13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.
14 Ephraim has provoked God to anger; therefore he will repay him for the blood he has shed, and his Lord will repay him for his reproach.
Hosea Chapter 13
Total destruction of Ephraim predicted
1 When Ephraim spoke, there was fear; he was exalted in Israel; but he sinned in Baal, and died.
2 And now they have added to their sin, and from their silver they have made for themselves molten images, idols, all the work of craftsmen, concerning which they say to the men who sacrifice, “Let them kiss the calves.”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the early dew that passes away, like chaff that the storm blows from the threshing floor, and like smoke that rises from the chimney.
4 But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; you shall acknowledge no other god but me, no other savior but me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness, in a parched land.
6 They were satisfied in their pastures, and when they were full, their hearts became proud; therefore they forgot me.
7 Therefore I will be like a lion to them; like a leopard I will stalk them along the way.
8 Like a bear that has shed her cubs, I will find them, and tear apart the fibers of their hearts, and there I will devour them like a lion; a wild beast will tear them to pieces.
9 You are lost, O Israel, but your help is with me.
10 Where is your king, that he may save you with all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is kept hidden.
13 The pains of a woman in labor will come upon him; he is a foolish child, for he should not have lingered at the very moment of birth.
14 I will redeem them from the power of Sheol; I will rescue them from death. O death, I will be your plagues; O Sheol, I will be your destruction; compassion will be hidden from my sight.
15 Though he flourishes among the brothers, the east wind of the Lord will come; it will rise from the desert, and his spring will dry up, and his fountain will fail; it will plunder the treasury of all his precious jewels.
16 Samaria will be laid waste, because she rebelled against her God; they will fall by the sword; their infants will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
Hosea Chapter 14
A plea to Israel to return to Jehovah
1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your sin.
2 Take words of supplication with you and return to the Lord, and say to him, “Take away all iniquity, and receive good, and we will offer to you the offering of our lips.”
3 Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses, nor will we ever again say to the work of our hands, “Our gods”; for in you the fatherless find mercy.
4 I will heal their waywardness, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, and his roots will spread like Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread out, and his splendor will be like that of an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They will again dwell in his shade; they will be revived like grain, and blossom like the vine; their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim will say, “What more have I to do with idols?” I will hear and see; I will be to him like a green cypress; your fruit will be found from me.
9 Who is wise enough to understand this, and discerning enough to know it? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.
