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.
And the LORD said to Hosea,
Go,
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms
and children of whoredoms:
for the land hath committed great whoredom,
departing from the LORD.
So he went and took Gomer
the daughter of Diblaim;
which conceived,
and bare 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 bare 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 bare a son.
Then said God,
Call his name Loammi:
for ye 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,
Ye are not my people,
there it shall be said unto them,
Ye 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 ye 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 be the children of whoredoms.
For their mother hath played the harlot:
she that conceived them hath done shamefully:
for she said,
I will go after my lovers,
that give me my bread
and my water,
my wool
and my flax,
mine oil
and my drink.
Therefore,
behold,
I will hedge up thy 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 corn,
and wine,
and oil,
and multiplied her silver
and gold,
which they prepared for Baal.
Therefore will I return,
and take away my corn
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 discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and none shall deliver her out of mine 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 hath 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 Baalim,
wherein she burned incense to them,
and she decked herself
with her earrings
and her jewels,
and she went after her lovers,
and forgat me,
saith the LORD.
Therefore,
behold,
I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak comfortably unto her.
And I will give her her vineyards from thence,
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,
saith the LORD,
that thou shalt call me Ishi;
and shalt call me no more Baali.
For I will take away the names of 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 thee
unto me
for ever;
yea,
I will betroth thee
unto me
in righteousness,
and in judgment,
and in lovingkindness,
and in mercies.
I will even betroth thee
unto me in faithfulness:
and thou shalt know the LORD.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
I will hear,
saith the LORD,
I will hear the heavens,
and they shall hear the earth;
And the earth shall hear the corn,
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 which were not my people,
Thou art my people;
and they shall say,
Thou art 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 an homer of barley,
and an half homer of barley:
And I said unto her,
Thou shalt abide for me many days;
thou shalt not play the harlot,
and thou shalt not be for another man:
so will I also be for thee.
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 teraphim:
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.
Hear the word of the LORD,
ye children of Israel:
for the LORD hath a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth,
nor mercy,
nor knowledge of God in the land.
By swearing,
and lying,
and killing,
and stealing,
and committing adultery,
they break out,
and blood toucheth blood.
Therefore shall the land mourn,
and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish,
with the beasts of the field,
and with the fowls of heaven;
yea,
the fishes of the sea
also shall be taken away.
Yet let no man strive,
nor reprove another:
for thy people are as they that strive
with the priest.
Therefore shalt thou fall in the day,
and the prophet also shall fall
with thee
in the night,
and I will destroy thy mother.
My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee,
that thou shalt be no priest to me:
seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
I will also forget thy children.
As they were increased,
so they sinned against me:
therefore will I change their glory into shame.
They eat up the sin of my people,
and they set their heart on their iniquity.
And there shall be,
like people,
like priest:
and I will punish them for their ways,
and reward them their doings.
For they shall eat,
and not have enough:
they shall commit whoredom,
and shall not increase:
because they have left off
to take heed to the LORD.
Whoredom
and wine
and new wine
take away the heart.
My people ask counsel at their stocks,
and their staff declareth unto them:
for the spirit of whoredoms
hath caused them to err,
and they have gone a whoring
from under their God.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,
and burn incense upon the hills,
under oaks
and poplars
and elms,
because the shadow thereof is good:
therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom,
and your spouses shall commit adultery.
I will not punish your daughters
when they commit whoredom,
nor your spouses
when they commit adultery:
for themselves are separated with whores,
and they sacrifice with harlots:
therefore the people that doth not understand
shall fall.
Though thou,
Israel,
play the harlot,
yet let not Judah offend;
and come not ye unto Gilgal,
neither go ye up to Bethaven,
nor swear,
The LORD liveth.
For Israel slideth back
as a backsliding heifer:
now the LORD will feed them
as a lamb in a large place.
Ephraim is joined to idols:
let him alone.
Their drink is sour:
they have committed whoredom continually:
her rulers with shame do love,
Give ye.
The wind hath bound her up in her wings,
and they shall be ashamed
because of their sacrifices.
Hosea 1:1-4:19