\v 1 This is the word of Yahweh 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.
\v 2 When Yahweh spoke at first through Hosea, he said to him,
\q "Go, take for yourself a wife who is a prostitute.
\q She will have children who are the result of her prostitution.
\q For the land is committing great prostitution
\q by forsaking Yahweh."
\s5
\v 3 So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
\v 4 Yahweh said to Hosea,
\q "Call his name Jezreel.
\q For in a little while
\q I will punish the house of Jehu
\q for the bloodshed at Jezreel,
\q and I will put an end
\q to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
\q
\v 5 It will happen on the day
\q that I break the bow of Israel
\q in the Valley of Jezreel."
\s5
\v 6 Gomer conceived again and bore a daughter. Then Yahweh said to Hosea,
\q "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah,
\q for I will no longer have mercy
\q on the house of Israel,
\q that I should forgive them at all.
\q
\v 7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
\q and I will save them by myself, Yahweh their God.
\q I will not save them
\q by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen."
\s5
\v 8 Now after Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore another son.
\v 9 Then Yahweh said,
\q "Call his name Lo-Ammi,
\q for you are not my people,
\q and I am not your God.
\s5
\q
\v 10 Yet the number of the people of Israel
\q will be like the sand of the seashore,
\q which cannot be measured or counted.
\q It will be that where it was said to them,
\q 'You are not my people,'
\q it will be said to them,
\q 'You are people of the living God.'
\q
\v 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel
\q2 will be gathered together.
\q They will appoint one leader for themselves,
\q and they will go up from the land,
\q for great will be the day of Jezreel.
\s5
\c 2
\q
\v 1 Say to your brothers, 'My people!'
\q and to your sisters, 'You have been shown compassion.'"
\s5
\q
\v 2 Bring a lawsuit against your mother, bring a lawsuit,
\q2 for she is not my wife,
\q2 and neither am I her husband.
\q Let her put away her prostitution from before herself,
\q and her acts of adultery from between her breasts.
\q
\v 3 If not, I will strip her naked
\q and show her nakedness as on the day that she was born.
\q I will make her like the wilderness,
\q like a parched land,
\q and I will make her die from thirst.
\s5
\q
\v 4 I will not have any mercy on her children,
\q for they are children of prostitution.
\q
\v 5 For their mother has been a prostitute,
\q and she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
\q She said, "I will go after my lovers,
\q for they give me my bread and water,
\q my wool and flax,
\q my oil and drink."
\s5
\q
\v 6 Therefore I will build up a hedge to block her way with thorns.
\q I will build up a wall against her
\q so she cannot find her way.
\q
\v 7 She will pursue her lovers,
\q but she will not overtake them.
\q She will seek them,
\q but she will not find them.
\q Then she will say,
\q "I will return to my first husband,
\q for it was better for me then than it is now."
\s5
\q
\v 8 For she had not known that it was I who gave her
\q the grain, the new wine and the oil,
\q and who lavished on her silver and gold,
\q which they then used for Baal.
\q
\v 9 So I will take back her grain at harvest time,
\q and my new wine in its season.
\q I will take back my wool and flax
\q that were used to cover her nakedness.
\s5
\q
\v 10 Then I will strip her naked in the sight of her lovers,
\q and no one will rescue her out of my hand.
\q
\v 11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease—
\q her feasts, her new moon celebrations, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.
\s5
\q
\v 12 "I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
\q of which she has said,
\q 'These are the wages that my lovers gave me.'
\q I will make them a forest,
\q and the animals of the field will eat them.
\q
\v 13 I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals,
\q when she burned incense to them,
\q when she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry,
\q and she went after her lovers and forgot me—
\q this is Yahweh's declaration."
\s5
\q
\v 14 So I am going to win her back. I will bring her into the wilderness
\q and speak tenderly to her.
\q
\v 15 I will give her back her vineyards,
\q and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
\q She will answer me there as she did in the days of her youth,
\q as in the days that she came out of the land of Egypt.
\s5
\q
\v 16 "It will be in that day—this is Yahweh's declaration—
\q that you will call me, 'My husband,'
\q and you will no longer call me, 'My Baal.'
\q
\v 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth;
\q their names will not be remembered anymore."
\s5
\q
\v 18 "On that day I will make a covenant for them
\q with the beasts in the fields,
\q with the birds in the sky,
\q and with the crawling things on the ground.
\q I will drive away the bow, the sword, and the battle from the land,
\q and I will make you lie down in safety.
\s5
\q
\v 19 I will promise to be your husband forever.
\q I will promise to be your husband in righteousness, justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy.
\q
\v 20 I will pledge myself to you in faithfulness,
\q and you will know Yahweh.
\s5
\q
\v 21 On that day,
\q I will answer—this is Yahweh's declaration—
\q I will answer the heavens,
\q and they will answer the earth.
\q
\v 22 The earth will answer the grain, the new wine and the oil,
\q and they will answer Jezreel.
\s5
\q
\v 23 I will plant her for myself in the land,
\q and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah.
\q I will say to Lo-Ammi,
\q 'You are Ammi Attah,'
\q and they will say to me, 'You are my God.'"
\s5
\c 3
\p
\v 1 Yahweh said to me, "Go again, love a woman, loved by her husband, but who is an adulteress. Love her just as I, Yahweh, love the people of Israel, although they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."
\v 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a lethek of barley.
\v 3 I said to her, "You must live with me many days. You will not be a prostitute or belong to any other man. In the same way, I will be with you."
\s5
\v 4 For the people of Israel will live for many days without a king, prince, sacrifice, stone pillar, ephod or household idols.
\v 5 Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king, and in the last days, they will come trembling before Yahweh and his goodness.
\s5
\c 4
\m
\q
\v 1 Hear the word of Yahweh, you people of Israel.
\q Yahweh has a lawsuit against the inhabitants of the land,
\q because there is no truthfulness or covenantal faithfulness, no knowledge of God in the land.
\q
\v 2 There is cursing, lying, killing, stealing and adultery.
\q The people have broken all bounds, and bloodshed comes after bloodshed.
\s5
\q
\v 3 So the land is drying up,
\q and everyone living in it is wasting away;
\q the beasts in the fields and the birds in the sky,
\q even the fish in the sea, are being taken away.
\s5
\v 4 But do not allow anyone to bring a lawsuit;
\q do not let anyone accuse anyone else.
\q For it is you, the priests, whom I am accusing.
\q
\v 5 You priests will stumble during the day;
\q the prophets will also stumble with you by night,
\q and I will destroy your mother.
\s5
\q
\v 6 My people are being destroyed because of the lack of knowledge.
\q Because you priests have rejected knowledge,
\q I will also reject you as priests to me.
\q Because you have forgotten my law, although I am your God,
\q I also will forget your children.
\q
\v 7 The more the priests multiplied,
\q the more they sinned against me.
\q They exchanged their honor for shame.
\s5
\q
\v 8 They feed on the sin of my people;
\q they are greedy for more of their wickedness.
\q
\v 9 It will be the same for the people as for the priests:
\q I will punish them all for their practices;
\q I will repay them for their deeds.
\s5
\q
\v 10 They will eat but not have enough;
\q they will commit prostitution but not increase,
\q because they have gone far away from Yahweh.
\s5
\q
\v 11 They love sexual promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which have taken away their understanding.
\q
\v 12 My people consult their wooden idols,
\q and their walking sticks give them prophecies.
\q For a mind of promiscuity has misled them,
\q and they have acted as prostitutes instead of being faithful to their God.
\s5
\q
\v 13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
\q and burn incense on the hills,
\q under oaks, poplars and terebinths,
\q because the shade is good.
\q So your daughters commit sexual immorality,
\q and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
\q
\v 14 I will not punish your daughters when they choose to commit sexual immorality,
\q nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery.
\q For the men also give themselves to the prostitutes,
\q and they offer sacrifices so they can commit immoral acts with sacred prostitutes.
\q So this people who does not understand will be thrown down.
\s5
\q
\v 15 Though you, Israel, have committed adultery,
\q may Judah not become guilty.
\q Do not go to Gilgal, you people;
\q do not go up to Beth Aven,
\q and do not swear, saying, "As Yahweh lives."
\q
\v 16 For Israel has behaved stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer.
\q How can Yahweh bring them to pasture like lambs in a meadow?
\s5
\q
\v 17 Ephraim united himself with idols;
\q leave him alone.
\q
\v 18 Even when their strong drink is gone,
\q they continue to commit adultery;
\q her rulers dearly love their shame.
\q
\v 19 The wind will wrap her up in its wings;
\q and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
\f + \ft Some modern translations have \fqa The rebels have dug a deep pit \fqa* , \fqa The rebels have dug deep at Shittim \fqa* , or, continuing on from the previous verse, \fqa a pit dug deep at Shittim \fqa* . \f*
\f + \ft Instead of \fqa They gather together \fqa* , which the copies of the Hebrew text have, some ancient translations of the Hebrew text, and many modern translations have \fqa They cut themselves \fqa* , an allusion to the pagan custom of idol worshipers wounding themselves in the frenzy of prayer. \f*
\f + \ft Some ancient translations of the Hebrew text and most modern translations have \fqa they went away from me \fqa* . The Hebrew text has \fqa they went away from them \fqa* . \f*
\f + \ft The phrase \fqa so that we may offer to you the fruit of our lips \fqa* represents the interpretation of some ancient translations of the Hebrew text. The ancient copies of the Hebrew text have \fqa so that we may offer bulls, our lips \fqa* . Some modern translations interpret this to mean, \fqa so that we may offer to you bulls, which we have promised to do \fqa* . \f*
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