In 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. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the class="small-caps" >Lord.

“In that day I will respond,” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord— “I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth;

and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

The class="small-caps" >Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the class="small-caps" >Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

Then 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.”

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.

Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the class="small-caps" >Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the class="small-caps" >Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

The Charge Against Israel

Hear the word of the class="small-caps" >Lord, you Israelites, because the class="small-caps" >Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.

There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.

“But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.

my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.

And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.

“They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not flourish, because they have deserted the class="small-caps" >Lord to give themselves

My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.

They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

“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 and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes— a people without understanding will come to ruin!

“Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. “Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, ‘As surely as the class="small-caps" >Lord lives!’

The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the class="small-caps" >Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?

Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!