Hosea 1-4

New King James Version

^(F)“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For ^(G)the land has committed great ^[a]harlotry
By departing from the Lord.”

“Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
^(H)I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
^(I)And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
^5 (J)It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

“Call her name ^[b]Lo-Ruhamah,
^(K)For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
^[c]But I will utterly take them away.
^7 (L)Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the Lord their God,
And ^(M)will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.”

“Call his name ^[d]Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.

⁴ “I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the ^(X)children of harlotry.
⁵ For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
^(Y)Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’

⁶ “Therefore, behold,
^(Z)I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And ^[j]wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
⁷ She will ^[k]chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
^(AA)‘I will go and return to my ^(AB)first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
⁸ For she did not ^(AC)know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.

⁹ “Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰ Now ^(AD)I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
^11 (AE)I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.

¹² “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
¹³ I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

¹⁶ “And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ^[m]‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ^[n]‘My Master,’
¹⁷ For ^(AI)I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
¹⁸ In that day I will make a ^(AJ)covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle ^(AK)I will shatter from the earth,
To make them ^(AL)lie down safely.

¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And ^(AM)you shall know the Lord.

²¹ “It shall come to pass in that day
That ^(AN)I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
²² The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer ^[o]Jezreel.
²³ Then ^(AO)I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
^(AP)And I will have mercy on her who had ^[p]not obtained mercy;
Then ^(AQ)I will say to those who were ^[q]not My people,
‘You are ^[r]My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

“There is no truth or mercy
Or ^(BA)knowledge of God in the land.
² By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed ^[u]upon bloodshed.
³ Therefore ^(BB)the land will mourn;
And ^(BC)everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

⁴ “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those ^(BD)who contend with the priest.
⁵ Therefore you shall stumble ^(BE)in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
^6 (BF)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
^(BG)Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

⁷ “The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
^(BH)I^[v] will change ^[w]their glory into shame.
⁸ They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their ^[x]heart on their iniquity.
⁹ And it shall be: ^(BI)like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And ^[y]reward them for their deeds.
¹⁰ For ^(BJ)they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.

¹⁴ “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a ^(BP)ritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

¹⁵ “Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
^(BQ)Do not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to ^(BR)Beth^[aa] Aven,
^(BS)Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—

¹⁶ “For Israel ^(BT)is stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the Lord will let them forage
Like a lamb in ^[ab]open country.

¹⁷ “Ephraim is joined to idols,
^(BU)Let him alone.
¹⁸ Their drink ^[ac]is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
^(BV)Her ^[ad]rulers ^[ae]dearly love dishonor.
^19 (BW)The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And ^(BX)they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.