Hosea 1-4

New International Version

1 The word of the Lord that came^(A) to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah,^(B) Jotham,^(C) Ahaz^(D) and Hezekiah,^(E) kings of Judah,^(F) and during the reign of Jeroboam^(G) son of Jehoash^[a] king of Israel:^(H)

Hosea’s Wife and Children

²When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous^(I) woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness^(J) to the Lord.” ³So he married Gomer^(K) daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel,^(L) because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.^(M)”

⁶Gomer^(N) conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”),^(O) for I will no longer show love to Israel,^(P) that I should at all forgive them. ⁷Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow,^(Q) sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God,^(R) will save them.”

⁸After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,^(S) Gomer had another son. ⁹Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.^[b]^(T)

¹⁰“Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.^(U) In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’^(V) ¹¹The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together;^(W) they will appoint one leader^(X) and will come up out of the land,^(Y) for great will be the day of Jezreel.^[c]^(Z)

2 ^[d]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’^(AA)

Israel Punished and Restored

²“Rebuke your mother,^(AB) rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous^(AC) look from her face
    and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
³Otherwise I will strip^(AD) her naked
    and make her as bare as on the day she was born;^(AE)
I will make her like a desert,^(AF)
    turn her into a parched land,
    and slay her with thirst.
⁴I will not show my love to her children,^(AG)
    because they are the children of adultery.^(AH)
⁵Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,^(AI)
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’^(AJ)
⁶Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.^(AK)
⁷She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.^(AL)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband^(AM) as at first,^(AN)
    for then I was better off^(AO) than now.’
⁸She has not acknowledged^(AP) that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,^(AQ)
who lavished on her the silver and gold^(AR)—
    which they used for Baal.^(AS)

⁹“Therefore I will take away my grain^(AT) when it ripens,
    and my new wine^(AU) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
¹⁰So now I will expose^(AV) her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;^(AW)
    no one will take her out of my hands.^(AX)
¹¹I will stop^(AY) all her celebrations:^(AZ)
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.^(BA)
¹²I will ruin her vines^(BB) and her fig trees,^(BC)
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;^(BD)
I will make them a thicket,^(BE)
    and wild animals will devour them.^(BF)
¹³I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense^(BG) to the Baals;^(BH)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,^(BI)
    and went after her lovers,^(BJ)
    but me she forgot,^(BK)”
declares the Lord.^(BL)

¹⁴“Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness^(BM)
    and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor^[e]^(BN) a door of hope.
There she will respond^[f]^(BO) as in the days of her youth,^(BP)
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.^(BQ)

¹⁶“In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “you will call me ‘my husband’;^(BR)
    you will no longer call me ‘my master.^[g]’
¹⁷I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;^(BS)
    no longer will their names be invoked.^(BT)
¹⁸In that day I will make a covenant for them
    with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the creatures that move along the ground.^(BU)
Bow and sword and battle
    I will abolish^(BV) from the land,
    so that all may lie down in safety.^(BW)
¹⁹I will betroth^(BX) you to me forever;
    I will betroth you in^[h] righteousness and justice,^(BY)
    in^[i] love and compassion.^(BZ)
²⁰I will betroth you in^[j] faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge^(CA) the Lord.^(CB)

²¹“In that day I will respond,”
    declares the Lord—
“I will respond^(CC) to the skies,
    and they will respond to the earth;
²²and the earth will respond to the grain,
    the new wine and the olive oil,^(CD)
    and they will respond to Jezreel.^[k]^(CE)
²³I will plant^(CF) her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.^[l]^(CG)’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,^[m]’ ‘You are my people’;^(CH)
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.^(CI)’”

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.^(CJ) Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.^(CK)”

²So I bought her for fifteen shekels^[n] of silver and about a homer and a lethek^[o] of barley. ³Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

⁴For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,^(CL) without sacrifice^(CM) or sacred stones,^(CN) without ephod^(CO) or household gods.^(CP) ⁵Afterward the Israelites will return and seek^(CQ) the Lord their God and David their king.^(CR) They will come trembling^(CS) to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.^(CT)

The Charge Against Israel

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge^(CU) to bring
    against you who live in the land:^(CV)
“There is no faithfulness,^(CW) no love,
    no acknowledgment^(CX) of God in the land.^(CY)
²There is only cursing,^[p] lying^(CZ) and murder,^(DA)
    stealing^(DB) and adultery;^(DC)
they break all bounds,
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.^(DD)
³Because of this the land dries up,^(DE)
    and all who live in it waste away;^(DF)
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the fish in the sea are swept away.^(DG)

⁴“But let no one bring a charge,
    let no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
    who bring charges against a priest.^(DH)
⁵You stumble^(DI) day and night,
    and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother^(DJ)—
⁶    my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.^(DK)

“Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law^(DL) of your God,
    I also will ignore your children.
⁷The more priests there were,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they exchanged their glorious God^[q]^(DM) for something disgraceful.^(DN)
⁸They feed on the sins of my people
    and relish their wickedness.^(DO)
⁹And it will be: Like people, like priests.^(DP)
    I will punish both of them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.^(DQ)

¹⁰“They will eat but not have enough;^(DR)
    they will engage in prostitution^(DS) but not flourish,
because they have deserted^(DT) the Lord
    to give themselves ¹¹to prostitution;^(DU)
old wine^(DV) and new wine
    take away their understanding.^(DW)
¹²My people consult a wooden idol,^(DX)
    and a diviner’s rod speaks to them.^(DY)
A spirit of prostitution^(DZ) leads them astray;^(EA)
    they are unfaithful^(EB) to their God.
¹³They sacrifice on the mountaintops
    and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak,^(EC) poplar and terebinth,
    where the shade is pleasant.^(ED)
Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution^(EE)
    and your daughters-in-law to adultery.^(EF)

¹⁴“I will not punish your daughters
    when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
    when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots^(EG)
    and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes^(EH)—
    a people without understanding^(EI) will come to ruin!^(EJ)

¹⁵“Though you, Israel, commit adultery,
do not let Judah become guilty.

“Do not go to Gilgal;^(EK)
    do not go up to Beth Aven.^[r]^(EL)
    And do not swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’^(EM)
¹⁶The Israelites are stubborn,^(EN)
    like a stubborn heifer.^(EO)
How then can the Lord pasture them
    like lambs^(EP) in a meadow?
¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols;
    leave him alone!
¹⁸Even when their drinks are gone,
    they continue their prostitution;
    their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
¹⁹A whirlwind^(EQ) will sweep them away,
    and their sacrifices will bring them shame.^(ER)

Footnotes

Hosea 1:1 Hebrew Joash, a variant of Jehoash
Hosea 1:9 Or your I am
Hosea 1:11 In Hebrew texts 1:10,11 is numbered 2:1,2.
Hosea 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1-23 is numbered 2:3-25.
Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble.
Hosea 2:15 Or sing
Hosea 2:16 Hebrew baal
Hosea 2:19 Or with
Hosea 2:19 Or with
Hosea 2:20 Or with
Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)
Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)
Hosea 3:2 That is, about 6 ounces or about 170 grams
Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek possibly weighed about 430 pounds or about 195 kilograms.
Hosea 4:2 That is, to pronounce a curse on
Hosea 4:7 Syriac (see also an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition); Masoretic Text me; / I will exchange their glory
Hosea 4:15 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).