Hosea Chapters

1 | ¹The word of the Lord was addressed to Hosea, son of Beeri, during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah and Jeroboam, son of Joash in Israel.

Take a Wife: She Will Betray You

•  ²When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take for your wife a woman involved in sacred prostitution; and have children born of prostitution, for the land is wholeheartedly lapsing into prostitution and turning away from the Lord.”

³So he married Gomer, daughter of Diblaim. And she was with child and bore a son. ⁴The Lord told him, “Name him Jezreel, for I will soon punish the family of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel. I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵The days are coming when Israel will be defeated in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her ‘Not Pitied’ (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer pity the nation of Israel. For I will certainly not forgive their guilt. ⁷ (But I will pity the nation of Judah. I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by the sword, by military victory, by chariot horses, or by chariots.)”

⁸ When she had weaned ‘Not Pitied’ (Lo-Ruhamah), she conceived again and gave birth to another son. ⁹ Then the Lord said, “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

2 | •  ⁴Denounce your mother, denounce

—for she is not my wife,

nor am I her husband.

Let her rid her face of her ornaments

and her breasts of her lewd idols;

⁵or I will strip her naked

as on the day of her birth;

I will reduce her to arid land,

making of her an arid land—

I will let her die of thirst.

⁶ How could I love her children?

They are children of adultery;

⁷ their mother has played the harlot

they are children of debauchery.

She said, “I will go after my lovers,

who give me my bread and water,

my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”

¹⁰ Yet she would not acknowledge that it was I

who gave her the grain, the wine and the oil,

and the silver and gold

with which the people made their Baals.

¹¹So I will take back my grain when it ripens

and my new wine when it is ready;

I will take back my wool and my flax

which I gave to cover her nudity.

¹²Before her lovers, I will lay bare her shame

and no one can rescue her from my power.

¹³I will bring an end to all her gladness,

her monthly feasts, Sabbaths and celebrations.

¹⁴I will lay waste her vines,

and her fig trees, for she said,

“My lovers gave them to me.”

I will turn them into thickets

to be ravaged by wild beasts.

¹⁵I will punish her for the feast days

when she brought burnt offerings to the Baals,

decked herself with her gaudy jewels,

ran after her lovers and forgot me, says the Lord.

⁸ With thorns, therefore, I will block her path,

wall her, and not let her find her way out.

⁹ Pursuing her lovers,

she will not overtake them;

looking for her lovers, she will not find them.

Then she will say, “I will go back to my husband

for I was better off then than now.”

¹⁶ So I am going to allure her,

lead her again into the desert,

where I can speak to her tenderly.

¹⁷ Then I will give back her vineyards,

make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

There, she will answer me, as in her youth,

as when she came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁸ On that day, the Lord says,

you will call me my husband,

and never again: my Baal.

¹⁹ I will take the names of Baals from her lips

and no longer will they be invoked.

²⁰ That day, on her behalf, I will make a Covenant

with beasts of the field and birds of the air,

with creatures creeping upon the ground.

I will wipe out the sword and war in the land;

I will make people rest safe and secure.

²¹You will be my spouse forever,

betrothed in justice and integrity;

we will be united in love and tenderness.

²²I will espouse you in faithfulness;

and you will come to know the Lord.

²³This is what the Lord says of those days,

“I will be at peace with the heavens,

and they will respond to the earth;

²⁴the earth will respond to the grain, wine, and oil,

which will meet Jezreel's expectations.

²⁵I will sow them for myself in the land;

I will show my love to ‘Not Pitied’;

I will say to ‘Not My People,’ “You are my people;”

and they will answer, “You are my God.”

3 | ¹The Lord said to me, “Welcome, once more, this woman who makes love to others. Love her, just as the Lord loves his people, who turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to them.”

²So I bought her for fifteen pieces of silver and a whole measure of barley. ³Then I told her, “You shall stay here with me many days, without giving yourself to anyone, and without deserting me for another man. And I, too, will stand aloof.”

⁴For the people of Israel shall be without king or ruler, sacrifice or sacred pillar, divination or household idol for many days.

⁵Then the people of Israel shall turn back, looking for the Lord, their God, and for David, their king. They will come respectfully to the Lord and his blessings in the last days.

2 | ¹Yet, the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” they shall be called “children of the living God.” ²The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited; they will appoint one leader to rule over them; and they will come up out of the land. For there will be a great victory in Jezreel. ³You will call your brothers My-people and your sisters My-loved-ones.

4 | •  ¹Hear the word of the Lord, Israel! For the Lord has an accusation to bring against the inhabitants of this land. There is neither truth nor goodness nor knowledge of God in the country; ²only perjury, lies, murder, theft, and adultery, with continual bloodshed.

³That is why the country is in mourning, with all who live there wasting away; the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, even the fish are dying. ⁴But let no one apologize or accuse another; for it is you, priest, whom I single out!

⁵You will stumble in broad daylight, and the prophet will fall into darkness; I will silence you. ⁶ You have destroyed my people by failing to acknowledge me! Because you refuse to acknowledge me, I will reject you as my priests. Because you reject the law of your God, I will reject your descendants.

⁷ The more the priests increased in number, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace. 8 Since they eat of the sacrifices for sin, they like my people to sin.

⁹ Yet, it will be for the people as for the priest; I shall punish both for their conduct and repay them for their deeds. ¹⁰ They will eat and not be satisfied; they will multiply their prostitutions but remain without a child, for they have no reverence for the Lord. ¹¹Harlotry, wine, and liquors have taken hold of their hearts.

¹²My people consult a wooden idol and rely on a rod for information. A spirit of adultery leads them astray and makes them unfaithful to their God. ¹³They sacrifice on the mountaintops and offer incense on the hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the terebinth, wherever the shade is pleasant.

¹⁴That is why, if your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery, I will not punish them, for you, yourselves, go off with harlots and sacrifice with temple prostitutes. A senseless people destroys itself.

(¹⁵Although you, O Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal! Do not go up to Beth-aven! Do not swear oaths ‘by the Lord’s life’).

¹⁶ Since Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn cow, will the Lord pasture it gently as a lamb? ¹⁷ Ephraim is devoted to idols; let the Lord leave him alone! ¹⁸ They consume their alcohol, then engage in cult prostitution; they dearly love their shameful behavior. ¹⁹ A whirlwind will sweep them away, and they will have gained nothing with their sacrifices.

Against the Royal Officials

5 | •  ¹Hear this, O priests! And you, people of Israel, pay attention! Hear, officials of the king, for you are to be judged. You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net on Tabor, ²and a deep pit at Shittim, so I will punish you all.

³I know what Israel is like; he cannot hide from me. Ephraim is playing the harlot; Israel is a people which defiles itself.

⁴Their deeds prevent them from returning to their God; a spirit of prostitution has taken hold of them, and they do not know the Lord. ⁵The pride of Israel is a witness against him; these people are failing because of their guilt.

⁶ With their sheep and bulls, they will search for the Lord; but they will not find him, for he has gone far from them. ⁷ He found they were unfaithful, and their children were not his. So now, the destroyer will do away with them, and their lands will be devastated.

•  ⁸ Blow the horn at Gibeah, the trumpet at Ramah, raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! For Benjamin has been defeated; ⁹ the day has come in which Ephraim is ruined. Let the tribes of Israel know that this is about to occur! ¹⁰ The princes of Judah are like those who remove border stones, and I shall pour out my anger on them like a flood. ^{11 Similarl}y, those of Ephraim are oppressors and trample justice.

¹²I will be like a moth for Ephraim, like rot for Judah. ¹³Ephraim saw he was sick, and Judah saw his ulcer. Then Ephraim turned to the great king of Assyria for help, but he would not cure him or heal his sores.

¹⁴I will be like a leopard for Ephraim and a lion for Judah. I will tear them to pieces and leave them. When I carry them off, no one will rescue them. ¹⁵Then I will go away and return to my place until they admit their guilt and return to me, for in their anguish, they will earnestly seek me.

                                    6 | •  ¹Come, let us return to the Lord.

                        He who shattered us to pieces will heal us as well;

he has struck us down, but he will bind up our wounds.

²Two days later, he will bring us back to life;

 on the third day, he will raise us up,

and we shall live in his presence.

³Let us strive to know the Lord.

His coming is as certain as the dawn;

^5c his judgment will burst forth like the light;

 he will come to us as showers come,

like spring rain that waters the earth.

⁴O Ephraim, what shall I do with you?

O Judah, how shall I deal with you?

This love of yours is like the morning mist,

like the morning dew that quickly disappears.

⁵This is why I smote you through the prophets

 and have slain you by the words of my mouth.

⁶ For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice.

It is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.

•  ⁷ At Adam, they broke my Covenant; they were unfaithful to me. ⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers, stained with footprints of blood. ⁹ Like thieves in an ambush, so are the priests; they murder on the road to Shechem and commit adultery. ¹⁰ In Bethel, I saw their disgraceful conduct; that is where Ephraim played the harlot and was defiled. ¹¹(For you, too, Judah, I have a harvest stored, when I bring back my captive people and heal Israel.)

7 | ¹The sin of Ephraim appears clearly; the wickedness of Samaria is obvious. They cheat one another; they break into houses while bandits raid outside. ²They do not realize that I am mindful of their evil deeds. They are engulfed by their sins, which are always before me. ³They amuse the king with their wickedness and the officials with their trickery. ⁴They are, and remain, adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker; he has not to stir the fire from when the dough is kneaded until it rises.

⁵On the day of the king, his officials get drunk, and the king joins hands with the revelers. ⁶ In their plotting, they burn like an oven; all night, their anger smolders; and in the morning, blazes like a fire. ⁷ They are all heated like an oven, and they devour their rulers; all their kings fall, but none of them calls on me for help.

⁸ Ephraim mixes with other nations. He is like a half-baked loaf; ⁹ the nations around him consume his strength, but he is unaware of it. He has become old, and he does not know it.

¹⁰ Israel’s arrogance is a witness against him, but even so, they will not turn back to the Lord, their God, or search for him. ¹¹Ephraim is like a silly pigeon, calling on Egypt, now turning to Assyria. ¹²But, wherever they turn, I shall throw my net over them, for they rebelled against me, and they will fall like birds.

¹³Woe to them who fled far from me; disgrace will fall on those who deceived me. I wanted to redeem them, but they spoke evil of me. ¹⁴They did not call on me sincerely when they groaned in their beds because of their wheat and wine and turned to me.

¹⁵When I made them successful and strong, they plotted evil against me. ¹⁶ Now, they turn to nothingness. They are as deceptive as a twisted bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent talk; in the land of Egypt, people will make fun of them.

8 | •  ¹Sound the trumpet, sentry! Warn the people of the Lord because they have broken my Covenant and are unfaithful to my law. ²They cry to me, “We, Israel, acknowledge you, O God.” ³But Israel rejected what is right, and this is why the enemy will hunt them down. ⁴Without my approval, they set up kings and, without my blessing, appointed leaders. With their silver and gold, they fashioned idols to their ruin.

⁵To me, Samaria, your calf is loathsome, and my anger blazes against you. How long will you remain defiled? ⁶ The calf is yours, Israel, a craftsman has made it; it is not God and will be broken into pieces. ⁷ As they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. Stalk without flowers will never yield flowers, or if they do, foreigners will devour them.

^8-9 Israel lived apart as a wild donkey, but he was eaten up. Now, they are among pagans as worthless objects. Ephraim went to Assyria with gifts. ¹⁰ Now, they have been given up to the nations, and I shall gather them. For, in no time, they have been left with no prophets, kings, or leaders.

•  ¹¹Ephraim built many altars, but his altars made him more guilty. ¹²I wrote out the numerous precepts of my law for him, but they look at them as coming from foreigners.

¹³They offer sacrifices to me because they eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices, for he is mindful of their sin and remembers their wickedness. They will return to Egypt.

¹⁴Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, but I will set fire to their towns and burn their palaces.

The Exile Is Foretold

9 | ¹Do not rejoice and celebrate, Israel, like other nations, for you have deserted your God. You are fond of prostitution gifts and run to every threshing floor with wheat. ²This is why threshing floors and vats will not feed you; the new wine will disappoint you. ³No longer will you remain in the Lord’s land. Ephraim will return to Egypt—in fact, to Assyria, where they will eat unclean food.

⁴ They will no longer be able to pour out the wine offering for the Lord and no longer sacrifice to him. They will have only bread for mourners; all who eat it will be defiled. This food will be for themselves and not be taken into the house of the Lord.

⁵What shall you do on the feast? You will leave, but not for the pilgrimage to the Lord; you will flee because of the invaders. ⁶ Egypt will gather you, and Memphis entomb you. Nettles will take over your treasures of silver, and thorns creep over your tents.

⁷ The time of punishment has come, and the day of retribution is here. The Israelites will know it. The prophets will go out of their minds; the seers will become like madmen because your defeat will be as great as your sins.

⁸ Ephraim watches before my God; his prophets try to stop the enemy on every path to protect the house of their gods. ⁹ Yet they are as corrupted as they were long ago in Gibeah. The Lord will remember their wickedness and punish their sin.

¹⁰ I found Israel like wild grapes in the desert. I saw your ancestors like the first fruits on a fig tree. But no sooner had they come to Baal-peor than they gave themselves to the idol, and they became as worthless as their dirty god. ¹¹The glory of Ephraim will flee away like a bird; it has died stillborn, miscarried, not even conceived. ¹²Had they brought out children, I would have taken them off before they were adults, for woe to them when I abandoned them!

¹³I have seen that Ephraim will make his sons like a game; he will send his sons to be slaughtered. ¹⁴Give them, Lord, what you will; give them wombs that miscarry and dry breasts.

¹⁵It is at Gilgal that their wickedness is seen. There, I hated them. I will expel them from my house because of their evil conduct. I will love them no longer, for all their leaders are rebels. ¹⁶ Ephraim is blighted; his root is withered; he will produce no fruit. Even when they are with a child, the child will die in the womb. ¹⁷ My God will reject them because they did not listen; he will make them wander among the nations.

10 | ¹Israel was a spreading vine, rich in fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; the more his land prospered, the more he adorned his sacred stones.

²Their heart is divided! They shall pay for it. Their altars will be thrown down, and their sacred stones will be broken into pieces.

³They say, “We have no king (because we have no fear of God), and what good would a king do us?” ⁴Let them speak like this, take an oath, and make covenants! Their sentence is growing like weeds in a plowed field.

⁵The people of Samaria tremble for their idols of Bethel; they mourn for their calf, as do the priests who were so proud of it. ⁶ The glorious idol has been taken far away, carried off to Assyria as a tribute to the great king. Ephraim will reap the shame of this; the people of Israel will be disgraced. ⁷ As for the king of Samaria, he has been carried off like foam on the water.

⁸ The idolatrous high places—the sin of Israel—will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will creep over the altars. Then they will say to the mountains: “Cover us,” and to the hills: “Fall on us.”

⁹ Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned and rebelled, Israel. Will not the battle against the evildoers of Gibeah overtake you again? ¹⁰ I shall come and punish you, gathering the nations against you because of your double sin.

Admonition and Call To Conversion

¹¹Ephraim is a well-trained heifer fond of threshing; on her neck, I shall place a yoke; Ephraim will be harnessed and plowed; the nation of Jacob will break the clods.

¹²Plow new ground, sow justice for yourselves and reap the harvest of kindness. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes to rain salvation on you.

¹³For your part, you planted wickedness, reaped evil, and ate the fruit of falsehood. When you rely on your strength and your many warriors, confusion will overcome your people. ¹⁴See, your fortresses are destroyed, as when Salman devastated Beth-Arbel; all were crushed. ¹⁵That is what will happen to you, people of Israel, because of your great evil. The storm will blow away the king of Israel.

I Called My Son Out of Egypt

11 | •  ¹I loved Israel when he was a child; out of Egypt, I called my son. ²But the more I have called, the further have they gone from me—sacrificing to the Baals, burning incense to the idols.

³Yet, it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; yet, little did they realize that it was I who cared for them. ⁴I led them with cords of human kindness, with leading strings of love, and I became for them as one who eases the yoke upon their neck and stoops down to feed them.

⁵If they refuse to return to me, they will have to go back to Egypt and be ruled by an Assyrian king. ⁶ Swords will flash in their cities, slaughtering their sons and putting an end to all their plans.

⁷ They insist on turning away from me; they cry out because the yoke is upon them, and no one lifts it. ⁸ How can I give you up, Ephraim? Can I abandon you like Admah or make you like Zeboiim? My heart is troubled within me, and I am moved by compassion. ⁹ I will not give vent to my great anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not human. I am the Holy One in your midst and do not want to come to you in anger.

¹⁰ You will follow the Lord when he roars like a lion. When he roars, his sons will come trembling from the west; ¹¹they will come, with fear, like sparrows from Egypt, like doves from Assyria, for I will bring them to their homes again.

12 | ¹Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; Israel comes to me with deceit. They follow Baal and run after the sanctuaries. ²Ephraim feeds on wind, forever chasing the east wind, always more given to falsehood and violence. They made a treaty with Assyria and brought oil to Egypt.

³The Lord has brought Jacob to trial. He will call him to account for his ways and repay his deeds.

⁴In the womb, he supplanted his brother, and in his vigor, he contended with a divine being; he struggled with an angel and prevailed. ⁵The angel wept and pleaded with him! He met him at Bethel, and there he spoke to him. ⁶ (The Lord, the God of armies, the Lord is his name.)

⁷ You must return to your God, practice love and justice, and trust in your God.

⁸ Canaan has dishonest scales and likes to cheat. ⁹ Ephraim boasts, “I have become rich and possess a fortune.” Yet he will be left with nothing of what he has treasured, for he was doing wrong.

¹⁰ I am the Lord, your God, since the days of Egypt; I will have you live in tents again, as in the days of Meeting. ¹¹Then I will speak to the prophets, give them many visions, and teach you through their parables.

¹²The people of Gilead are wicked and false. They offered sacrifices to bulls in Gilgal, which is why their altars became ruins on a plowed field.

¹³Jacob fled to the plains of Aram; Israel served to have a wife, and, for her sake, he cared for sheep. ¹⁴The Lord, in turn, brought Israel out of Egypt through a prophet; through this prophet, he cared for them. ¹⁵Ephraim, nevertheless, angered him bitterly. The Lord will bring down on him the blood he shed and repay him for his contempt.

13 | ¹When Ephraim spoke, all trembled; he was influential in Israel but became guilty of Baal worship and ruined himself. ²They continue to sin and make images from molten metal, fashioning idols from silver, the work of artisans. And they call them God! They offer sacrifices to them, and humans adore calves! ³That is why they will be like the morning mist and dew, which does not last, as the straw swept away on the threshing floor like smoke escaping through a window.

⁴But I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt; you have no God other than me and no savior other than me.

⁵I knew you in the desert, in a land of scorching heat. ⁶ When they had food, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud and no longer remembered me. ⁷ So I became for them like a leopard; like a tiger, I watched out for them; ⁸ and attacked them with the fury of a bear that has lost its cubs. I tore out their heart and, like a lion, I devoured them; like a savage beast, I tore them apart.

⁹ Israel, you had in me a helper; will I be now, your destroyer? ¹⁰ Where is your king, that he may rescue your cities? Where are your rulers, about whom you said, “Give us a king and commanders.” ¹¹So, in my anger, I gave you a king; and in my fury, I took him away.

¹² Ephraim's wickedness is deep-set; his sin is stored up. ¹³The pangs of a woman in labor come upon him, but the child is capricious. When it is time, he does not leave the womb.

¹⁴Will I ransom them from the power of the netherworld? Will I rescue them from death? Not at all! Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O netherworld, is your venom? Yet my eyes will not look with compassion ¹⁵on the one who excelled among his brothers. The Lord will send the east wind from the desert to dry up his water sources and parch his fountains, to strip him of all his treasures.

14 | ¹Samaria is guilty, for she rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their little ones will be crushed, and women with child ripped open.

•  ²Return to your God, the Lord, O Israel!

Your sins have caused your downfall.

³Return to the Lord with humble words. Say to him,

“Oh, you who show compassion to the fatherless,

forgive our debt, be appeased.

Instead of bulls and sacrifices,

accept the praise from our lips.

⁴Assyria will not save us:

no longer shall we look for horses,

nor ever again shall we say ‘Our gods’

to the work of our hands.”

⁵I will heal their disloyalty

and love them with all my heart,

for my anger has turned from them.

⁶ I shall be like the dew to Israel,

like the lily will he blossom.

Like a cedar, he will send down his roots,

⁷ his young shoots will grow and spread.

His splendor will be like an olive tree,

his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar.

⁸ They will dwell in my shade again,

they will flourish like the grain,

they will blossom like a vine,

and their fame will be like Lebanon’s wine.

⁹ What would Ephraim do with idols

when it is I who hear and make him prosper?

I am like an ever-green cypress tree;

all your fruitfulness comes from me.

¹⁰ Who is wise enough to grasp all this?

Who is discerning and will understand?

Straight are the ways of the Lord:

They just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.