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Hosea 1 (Listen)

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, ain the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of bJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea's Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, c“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have dchildren of whoredom, for ethe land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while fI will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and gI will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day hI will break the bow of Israel iin the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, j“Call her name No Mercy,1 for kI will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But lI will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I mwill not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, n“Call his name Not My People,2 for oyou are not my people, and I am not your God.”3

10 4 Yet pthe number of the children of Israel shall be qlike the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. rAnd sin the place where it was said to them, o“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, t“Children5 of uthe living God.” 11 And vthe children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and wthey shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Footnotes

[1] 1:6 Hebrew Lo-ruhama, which means she has not received mercy
[2] 1:9 Hebrew Lo-ammi, which means not my people
[3] 1:9 Hebrew I am not yours
[4] 1:10 Or Sons
[5] 1:10 Or Sons

Hosea 2:14-23 (Listen)

The Lord's Mercy on Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and ebring her into the wilderness,

and fspeak tenderly to her.

15 And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor1 a door of hope.

And there she shall answer gas in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 “And hin that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For iI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And jI will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And kI will abolish2 the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in lsafety. 19 And I will betroth you to me mforever. nI will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 nI will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And oyou shall know the Lord.

21 “And pin that day qI will answer, declares the Lord,

I will answer the heavens,

and they shall answer the earth,

22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer rJezreel,3

23 and sI will sow her for myself in the land.

And tI uwill have mercy on No Mercy,4

and vI will say to Not My People,5 w‘You are my people’;

and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Footnotes

[1] 2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26
[2] 2:18 Hebrew break
[3] 2:22 Jezreel means God will sow
[4] 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama
[5] 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi

Hosea 2:1 (Listen)

Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished

2 1 Say to your brothers, x“You are my people,”2 and to your sisters, y“You have received mercy.”3

Footnotes

[1] 2:1 Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy
[2] 2:1 Hebrew ammi, which means my people
[3] 2:1 Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy