Old/New Testament
Superscription
1 [a] This is the Lord’s message that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the time of[b] Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the time of Jeroboam son of Joash,[c] king of Israel.
Symbols of Sin and Judgment: The Prostitute and Her Children
2 When the Lord first spoke[d] through[e] Hosea, he[f] said to him,[g] “Go marry[h] a prostitute[i] who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution,[j] because the nation[k] continually commits spiritual prostitution[l] by turning away from[m] the Lord.” 3 So Hosea married[n] Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son for him. 4 Then the Lord said to Hosea,[o] “Name him ‘Jezreel,’ because in a little while I will punish the dynasty[p] of Jehu on account of the bloodshed[q] in the valley of Jezreel,[r] and I will put an end to the kingdom[s] of Israel.[t] 5 At that time,[u] I will destroy the military power[v] of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord[w] said to him, “Name her ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity[x] on the nation[y] of Israel. For[z] I will certainly not forgive[aa] their guilt.[ab] 7 But I will have pity on the nation[ac] of Judah.[ad] I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory,[ae] by chariot horses, or by chariots.”[af]
8 When[ag] she had weaned “No Pity” (Lo-Ruhamah), she conceived again and gave birth to another son. 9 Then the Lord[ah] said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you[ai] are not my people and I am not your[aj] God.”[ak]
The Restoration of Israel
10 (2:1)[al] However,[am] in the future the number of the people[an] of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that can be neither measured nor numbered. Although[ao] it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are[ap] children[aq] of the living God!” 11 Then the people[ar] of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader,[as] and will flourish in the land.[at] Certainly,[au] the day of Jezreel will be great!
2 Then you will call[av] your[aw] brother, “My People” (Ammi)! You will call your sister, “Pity” (Ruhamah)!
Idolatrous Israel Will Be Punished Like a Prostitute
2 “Plead earnestly[ax] with your[ay] mother
(for[az] she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),
so that[ba] she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle,[bb]
and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.[bc]
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked,
and expose her like she was when she was born.
I will turn her land into a wilderness
and make her country a parched land,
so that I might kill[bd] her with thirst.
4 I will have no pity on her children,[be]
because they are children conceived in adultery.[bf]
5 For their mother has committed adultery;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will seek out[bg] my lovers;[bh]
they are the ones who give me my bread and my water,
my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.[bi]
The Lord’s Discipline Will Bring Israel Back
6 “Therefore, I will soon[bj] fence her in[bk] with thorns;
I will wall her in[bl] so that[bm] she cannot find her way.[bn]
7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch[bo] them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them.[bp]
Then she will say,
‘I will go back[bq] to my husband,[br]
because I was better off then than I am now.’[bs]
Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel
8 “Yet[bt] until now[bu] she has refused to acknowledge[bv] that I[bw] was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who[bx] lavished on her the silver and gold—
that they[by] used in worshiping Baal![bz]
9 Therefore, I will take back[ca] my grain during the harvest time[cb]
and my new wine when it ripens;[cc]
I will take away my wool and my flax
that I had provided[cd] in order to clothe her.[ce]
10 Soon[cf] I will expose her lewd nakedness[cg] in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me![ch]
11 I will put an end to all her celebrations:
her annual religious festivals,
monthly new moon celebrations,
and weekly Sabbath festivities—
all her appointed festivals.
12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
about which she said, ‘These are my wages for prostitution[ci]
that my lovers gave to me!’
I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees[cj] into an uncultivated thicket,
so that wild animals[ck] will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the festival days
when she burned incense to the Baal idols;[cl]
she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but[cm] she forgot me!”[cn] says the Lord.
Future Repentance and Restoration of Israel
14 “However, in the future I will allure her;[co]
I will lead[cp] her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,
and turn the ‘Valley of Trouble’[cq] into an ‘Opportunity[cr] for Hope.’
There she will sing as she did when she was young,[cs]
when[ct] she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 At that time,”[cu] declares the Lord,
“you will call,[cv] ‘My husband’;[cw]
you will never again call me,[cx] ‘My master.’[cy]
17 For[cz] I will remove the names of the Baal idols[da] from your lips,[db]
so that you will never again utter their names![dc]
New Covenant Relationship with Repentant Israel
18 “At that time[dd] I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals,
the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
I will abolish[de] the warrior’s bow and sword—
that is, every weapon of warfare[df]—from the land,
and I will allow them to live securely.[dg]
19 I will commit myself to you[dh] forever;
I will commit myself to you in[di] righteousness and justice,
in steadfast love and tender compassion.
20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness;
then[dj] you will acknowledge[dk] the Lord.[dl]
Agricultural Fertility Restored to the Repentant Nation
21 “At that time,[dm] I will willingly respond,”[dn] declares the Lord.
“I will respond to the sky,
and the sky[do] will respond to the ground;
22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)![dp]
23 Then I will plant her as my own[dq] in the land.
I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).
I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’
And he[dr] will say, ‘You are[ds] my God!’”
An Illustration of God’s Love for Idolatrous Israel
3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to[dt] your wife[du] again, even though she loves[dv] another man[dw] and continually commits adultery.[dx] Likewise, the Lord loves[dy] the Israelites[dz] although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”[ea] 2 So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley[eb] to purchase her. 3 Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or become joined to another man,[ec] and I also will wait for you.”[ed] 4 For the Israelites[ee] must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols. 5 Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king.[ef] Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings[eg] in future days.[eh]
The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel
4 Listen to the Lord’s message, you Israelites![ei]
For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit[ej] against the people of Israel.[ek]
For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land,
nor do they acknowledge God.[el]
2 There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery.
They resort to violence and bloodshed.[em]
3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and all its inhabitants will perish.[en]
The wild animals,[eo] the birds of the sky,
and even the fish in the sea will perish.
The Lord’s Dispute against the Sinful Priesthood
4 Do not let anyone accuse or contend against anyone else:[ep]
for my case is against you priests![eq]
5 You stumble day and night,
and the false prophets stumble with you;
you have destroyed your own people.[er]
6 You have destroyed[es] my people
by failing to acknowledge me!
Because you refuse to acknowledge me,[et]
I will reject you as my priests.
Because you reject[eu] the law of your God,
I will reject[ev] your descendants.
7 The more the priests increased in numbers,
the more they rebelled against me.
They have turned[ew] their glorious calling
into a shameful disgrace!
8 They feed on the sin offerings of my people;
their appetites long for their iniquity!
9 I will deal with the people and priests together:[ex]
I will punish them both for their ways,
and I will repay them for their deeds.
10 They will eat, but not be satisfied;
they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers;
because they have abandoned the Lord
by pursuing other gods.[ey]
Judgment of Pagan Idolatry and Cultic Prostitution
11 Old and new wine
take away the understanding of my people.[ez]
12 They consult their wooden idols,
and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle.
The wind of prostitution blows them astray;
they commit spiritual adultery[fa] against their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops
and burn offerings on the hills;
they sacrifice[fb] under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is so pleasant.
As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery.
For the men consort with harlots,
they sacrifice with temple prostitutes.
It is true:[fc] “A people that lacks understanding will come to ruin!”
Warning to Judah: Do Not Join in Israel’s Apostasy
15 Although you, O Israel, commit adultery,
do not let Judah become guilty!
Do not journey to Gilgal.
Do not go up to Beth Aven.[fd]
Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”
16 Israel has rebelled[fe] like a stubborn heifer!
Soon[ff] the Lord will put them out to pasture
like a lamb in a broad field.[fg]
17 Ephraim has attached himself to idols;
Do not go near him!
The Shameful Sinners Will Be Brought to Shame
18 They consume their alcohol,
then engage in cult prostitution;
they dearly love their shameful behavior.
19 A whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings;
they will be brought to shame because of their idolatrous worship.[fh]
The Prologue
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ,[a] which God gave him to show his servants[b] what must happen very soon.[c] He made it clear[d] by sending his angel to his servant[e] John, 2 who then[f] testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the testimony about[g] Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this[h] prophecy aloud,[i] and blessed are[j] those who hear and obey[k] the things written in it, because the time is near![l]
4 From John,[m] to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia:[n] Grace and peace to you[o] from “he who is,”[p] and who was, and who is still to come,[q] and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ—the faithful[r] witness,[s] the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free[t] from our sins at the cost of[u] his own blood 6 and has appointed[v] us as a kingdom,[w] as priests[x] serving his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever![y] Amen.
7 (Look! He is returning with the clouds,[z]
and every eye will see him,
even[aa] those who pierced him,[ab]
and all the tribes[ac] on the earth will mourn because[ad] of him.
This will certainly come to pass![ae] Amen.)[af]
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”[ag] says the Lord God—the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come—the All-Powerful![ah]
9 I, John, your brother and the one who shares[ai] with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that[aj] are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.[ak] 10 I was in the Spirit[al] on the Lord’s Day[am] when[an] I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna,[ao] Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 I[ap] turned to see whose voice was speaking to me,[aq] and when I did so,[ar] I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man.[as] He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt[at] around his chest. 14 His[au] head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow,[av] and his eyes were like a fiery[aw] flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze[ax] refined[ay] in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar[az] of many waters. 16 He held[ba] seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His[bb] face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 17 When[bc] I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but[bd] he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 and the one who lives! I[be] was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades![bf] 19 Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things.[bg] 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this:[bh] The seven stars are the angels[bi] of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
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