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Hosea 1:1-5
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Be’eri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel.
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, ‘Go, take an unfaithful wife and have children of unfaithfulness, because the land is committing great adultery by departing from the Lord.’ 3 So he proceeded to marry Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Name him Jezreel (God’s sowing), because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel (God’s sowing).’
Hosea 1:6-11
6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Name her Lo-Ruhamah (No Mercy), for I will no longer show mercy to the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them. 7 Yet I will be merciful to the house of Judah, and I will save them, not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God.’
8 When she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah (No Mercy), Gomer gave birth to another son. 9 Then the Lord said, ‘Call him Lo-Ammi (Not my people), for you are not my people, and I am not your God. 10 Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which can neither be measured or counted, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”, it will be said “You are sons of the living God”.
11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint one leader and will arise from the land, for the day of Jezreel (God’s sowing) will be great.
Hosea 2:1-8
1 ‘Say of your brothers, “Ammi” (My people), and of your sisters, “Ruhamah” (Mercy). 2 Contend your mother, contend her (for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband) so that she will remove adultery from her face and unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3 Otherwise I will strip her naked and expose her as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. 4 I will not show mercy to her children, because they are the children of unfaithfulness. 5 Their mother has played the prostitute and she who conceived them has acted disgracefully. She said, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.”
6 Therefore I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her way. 7 She will chase after her lovers but not overtake them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, “I will go back to my husband as at first, for it was better for me then than now.” 8 She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold (which they used for Baal).
Hosea 2:9-15
9 ‘Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness. 10 Now I will expose her shame in the sight of her lovers; no-one will deliver her from my hands. 11 I will put an end to all her revelry: her yearly feasts, New Moons, Sabbath days, all her appointed feasts. 12 I will ruin her vines and her fig-trees, of which she said, “These are my pay from my lovers!” I will make them a forest, and wild animals will devour them. 13 I will punish her for the days of Ba’al worship when she burned incense and decked herself with rings and jewellery, she pursued her lovers and forgot me,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘So I will now entice her; I will bring her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 15 After this I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the ‘valley of trouble’ into a ‘doorway of hope’. She will be responsive there, as in the days of her youth, when she came up out of Egypt.
Hosea 2:16-23
16 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord, "you will call me “my husband”; and you will no longer call me “my master”. 17 I will remove the names of the Ba’als from her lips, and they will no longer be remembered by name.
18 In that day I will make a covenant with you and with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. I will abolish bow, sword and battle from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 I will make a marriage between you and me forever; my marriage to you will be made in righteousness, in justice, in love, and in compassion. 20 My marriage to you will be made in faithfulness, and then you will know the Lord.
21 ‘In that day I will answer,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will answer to the skies, and they will answer to the earth; 22 and the earth will answer to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will answer to Jezreel. 23 I will sow her for myself in the land; I will show mercy to “No Mercy”, and I will say to “Not my people”, “You are my people”; and they will say, “You are my God.”’
Hosea 3:1-5
1 The Lord said to me, ‘Persist, go and love your wife; she loves another and has committed adultery! Be like the Lord who loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes!’
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a measure or two of barley, 3 and then I said to her, ‘You will remain with me for a long time; you will not be a prostitute or have a man. I will live with you!’
4 For the people of Israel will live for many days without king, leader, sacrifice, sacred pillar, ephod or idol! 5 After this the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come in awe to the Lord and to his integrity in the latter days.
Hosea 4:1-6
1 Hear the word of the Lord,
O people of Israel;
for the Lord has an dispute
with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, lying, murder,
stealing and adultery are breaking out;
bloodshed upon bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who live in it waste away;
along with wild animals and the birds,
even the fish of the sea are perishing!
4 Now, let no one find fault, and none reprove,
for my dispute is with you, O priest.
5 You shall stumble by day and night;
Even the prophets will stumble with you,
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed
from lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I will reject you as a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten
the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
Hosea 4:7-13
7 The more the priests increased,
the more they wandered away from me;
they changed their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
they are happy with their iniquity.
9 And it will be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways,
and repay them for their deeds.
10 They will eat, but not have enough;
they will prostitute themselves,
but not benefit;
because they have deserted the Lord
to give themselves to 11 fornication.
Wine and new wine
take away the understanding.
12 My people consult a piece of wood,
and they are answered by a stick!
For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray
they are unfaithful and have
forsaken their God.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,
and burn offerings upon the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Hosea 4:13-19
13b Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters
when they play the whore,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with whores,
and sacrifice with temple prostitutes;
thus a people without understanding
comes to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel,
do not let Judah become guilty.
Do not enter Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven,
and do not swear, ‘As the Lord lives.’
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols
- let him alone.
18 When their drinking is ended,
they indulge in sexual orgies;
they love lewdness
more than their glory.
19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings,
and they shall be ashamed
because of their altars.
Hosea 5:1-7
1 Hear this, O priests!
Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For the judgment is for you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread upon Tabor.
2 The insurgents are deep in slaughter,
but I will discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim,
you have played the whore;
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
and they know not the Lord.
5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Israel and Ephraim
shall stumble in his guilt;
Judah also shall stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and herds
they shall go to seek the Lord,
but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
for they have borne alien children.
Now the new moon shall devour them
along with their fields.
Hosea 5:8-15
8 Sound the trumpet in Gibeah,
the horn in Ramah.
Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven;
lead on, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will be laid waste
on the day of reckoning.
Among the tribes of Israel
I proclaim what is certain.
10 Judah's leaders are like
those who move boundary stones.
I will pour out my wrath on them
like a flood of water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, broken in judgment
and intent on living by regulations.
12 I am like a moth to Ephraim,
like rot to the people of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his sores,
then Ephraim turned to Assyria,
and sent to the great king for help.
But he is not able to cure you,
not able to heal your sores.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a great lion to Judah.
I will tear them to pieces and go away;
I will carry them off,
with no-one to rescue them.
15 Then I will go back to my place
until they admit their guilt.
And they will seek my face;
in their misery
they will earnestly seek me.
Hosea 6:1-6
1 ‘Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us but he will heal us;
he has injured us but will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us know the Lord;
let us pursue our knowledge of Him.
He will appear as surely as the sun rises;
He will come to us like the winter rains,
like spring rains that water the earth.
4 ‘What will I do with you, Ephraim?
What will I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears!’
5 So I have cut them up with my prophets,
I killed them with the words of my mouth;
my judgments flashed on you like light.
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God
rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:7-11
7 Like Adam, they have broken the covenant
they were faithless to me there.
8 Gilead is a city of wicked men,
stained with footprints of blood.
9 As prowlers lie in ambush for a man,
so the priests band together;
they murder on the road to Shechem,
committing shameful crimes.
10 I have seen a horrible thing
in the house of Israel.
There, Ephraim is given to prostitution
and Israel is defiled.
11 Moreover, a harvest is appointed
for you, Judah.
Whenever I would restore
the fortunes of my people …
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