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¹The word of the LORD which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

²When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife inclined to infidelity, and children of infidelity; for the land commits flagrant infidelity, abandoning the LORD.”

³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

⁵On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer take pity on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

⁷But I will take pity on the house of Judah and save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

⁸When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

⁹And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, because you are not My people, and I am not your God.”

¹⁰Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or counted; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

¹¹And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For the day of Jezreel will be great.

¹Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”

²“Dispute with your mother, dispute, Because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; But she must remove her infidelity from her face And her adultery from between her breasts,

³Otherwise, I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And put her to death with thirst.

⁴Also, I will take no pity on her children, Because they are children of infidelity.

⁵For their mother has committed prostitution; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

⁶Therefore, behold, I will obstruct her way with thorns, And I will build a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.

⁷And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, Because it was better for me then than now!’

⁸“Yet she does not know that it was I myself who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal.

⁹Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax That I gave to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰So now I will uncover her lewdness Before the eyes of her lovers, And no one will rescue her from My hand.

¹¹I will also put an end to all her joy, Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, And all her festivals.

¹²And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, Of which she said, ‘They are my wages for prostitution Which my lovers have given me.’ And I will turn them into a forest, And the animals of the field will devour them.

¹³I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her nose ring and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the LORD.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I am going to persuade her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her.

¹⁵Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will respond there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she went up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶And it will come about on that day,” declares the LORD, “That you will call Me my husband And no longer call Me my Baal.

¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will no longer be mentioned by their names.

¹⁸On that day I will also make a covenant for them With the animals of the field, The birds of the sky, And the crawling things of the ground. And I will eliminate the bow, the sword, and war from the land, And will let them lie down in safety.

¹⁹I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In favor and in compassion,

²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.

²¹“And it will come about on that day that I will respond,” declares the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,

²²And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine, and to the oil, And they will respond to Jezreel.

²³I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet is committing adultery, as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

²So I purchased her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and a homer and a lethech of barley.

³Then I said to her, “You shall live with me for many days. You shall not play the prostitute, nor shall you have another man; so I will also be toward you.”

⁴For the sons of Israel will live for many days without a king or leader, without sacrifice or memorial stone, and without ephod or household idols.

⁵Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

¹Listen to the word of the LORD, you sons of Israel, Because the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, For there is no faithfulness, nor loyalty, Nor knowledge of God in the land.

²There is oath-taking, denial, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky, And even the fish of the sea disappear.

⁴Yet let no one find fault, and let no one rebuke; For your people are like those who contend with a priest.

⁵So you will stumble by day, And the prophet also will stumble with you by night; And I will destroy your mother.

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children.

⁷The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of My people, And long for their wrongdoing.

⁹And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰They will eat, but not have enough; They will play the prostitute, but not increase, Because they gave up devoting themselves to the LORD.

¹¹Infidelity, wine, and new wine take away the understanding.

¹²My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of infidelity has led them astray, And they have been unfaithful, departing from their God.

¹³They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oak, poplar, and terebinth, Because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, And your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, Or your brides when they commit adultery, Because the men themselves slip away with the prostitutes And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.

¹⁵Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, Judah must not become guilty; Also you are not to go to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth-aven And take the oath: “As the LORD lives!”

¹⁶Since Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn cow, Will the LORD now pasture them Like a lamb in a large field?

¹⁷Ephraim is allied with idols; Leave him alone.

¹⁸Their liquor is gone, They prostitute themselves continually; Their rulers dearly love shame.

¹⁹The wind wraps them in its wings, And they will be put to shame because of their sacrifices.