Hosea 1-3

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)

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.