This is the word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel.
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, he told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”
So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Gomer again conceived and gave birth to a daughter, and the LORD said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them. Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God.”
After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, Gomer conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ Then the people of Judah and of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and will go up out of the land. For great will be the day of Jezreel.
“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
Rebuke your mother,rebuke her,for she is not my wife,and I am not her husband.Let her remove the adultery from her faceand the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.Otherwise, I will strip her nakedand expose her like the day of her birth.I will make her like a desertand turn her into a parched land,and I will let her die of thirst.I will have no compassion on her children,because they are the children of adultery.For their mother has played the harlotand has conceived them in disgrace.For she thought,‘I will go after my lovers,who give me bread and water,wool and linen, oil and drink.’
Therefore, behold,I will hedge up her path with thorns;I will enclose her with a wall,so she cannot find her way.She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;she will seek them but not find them.Then she will say,‘I will return to my first husband,for then I was better off than now.’For she does not acknowledgethat it was I who gave her grain,new wine, and oil,who lavished on her silver and gold—which they crafted for Baal.
Therefore I will take back my grain in its timeand my new wine in its season;I will take away my wool and linen,which were given to cover her nakedness.And then I will expose her lewdnessin the sight of her lovers,and no one will deliver herout of my hands.I will put an end to all her exultation:her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.I will destroy her vines and fig trees,which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers.So I will make them into a thicket,and the beasts of the field will devour them.I will punish her for the days of the Baalswhen she burned incense to them,when she decked herself with rings and jewelry,and went after her lovers.
But me she forgot,”declares the LORD.
“Therefore, behold, I will allure herand lead her to the wilderness,and speak to her tenderly.There I will give back her vineyardsand make the Valley of Achorinto a gateway of hope.There she will respond as she didin the days of her youth,as in the day she came up out of Egypt.In that day,”declares the LORD,“you will call me ‘my Husband,’and no longer call me ‘my Master.’For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;no longer will their names be invoked.
On that day I will make a covenant for themwith the beasts of the field and the birds of the airand the creatures that crawl on the ground.And I will abolish bow and swordand weapons of war in the land,and will make them lie down in safety.So I will betroth you to me forever;I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,in loving devotion and compassion.And I will betroth you in faithfulness,and you will know the LORD.”
“On that day I will respond—”declares the LORD—“I will respond to the heavens,and they will respond to the earth.And the earth will respond to the grain,to the new wine and oil,and they will respond to Jezreel.And I will sow her as my own in the land,and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’I will say to those called ‘Not my People,’‘You are my people,’and they will say,‘You are my God.’ ”
Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.”
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.”
For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol. Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his goodness in the last days.