Hosea

Old Testament · 14 chapters · 197 verses.

Chapter 1

1:1The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel:
1:2When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a woman of prostitution and children of prostitution; for the land commits blatant prostitution by turning away from the LORD.”
1:3And he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.
1:4And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed at Jezreel, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
1:5And it will come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
1:6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And He said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah (No Compassion); for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, nor will I forgive them at all.
1:7Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God; and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, or by horsemen.”
1:8And when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
1:9And He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi (Not My People); for you are not My people, and I am not yours.

Chapter 2

2:1And the number of the sons of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and it will come to pass, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ it will be said to them, ‘Sons of the Living God.’
2:2And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one head, and will come up from the land; for great is the day of Jezreel.”
2:3“Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi’ (My People), and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah’ (Compassion Shown).
2:4Plead with your mother—plead; for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts,
2:5lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day of her birth, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and put her to death with thirst.
2:6And I will not have compassion on her children, for they are children of prostitution.
2:7For their mother has practiced prostitution; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she has said, ‘I will go after my lovers, those who give me my food and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
2:8Therefore, behold, I am hedging up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, and she will not find her paths.
2:9And she will pursue her lovers, but will not overtake them; and she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’
2:10And she did not know that I had given her the grain, the new wine, and the oil; indeed, I multiplied silver and gold for her, which they used for Baal.
2:11Therefore I will return and take My grain in its season and My new wine in its appointed time; and I will take away My wool and My flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
2:12And now I will expose her shame in the sight of her lovers, and none will deliver her out of My hand.
2:13And I will cause all her joy to cease: her festival, her new moon, and her Sabbath—all her appointed times.
2:14And I will make desolate her vine and her fig tree, of which she said, ‘They are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will consume them.
2:15And I will punish her for the days of the Baals, to whom she burned incense, when she adorned herself with her ring and her jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot Me,” declares the LORD.
2:16“Therefore, behold, I will entice her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
2:17And from there I will give her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
2:18And it will come to pass in that day,” declares the LORD, “that you will call Me, ‘My Husband,’ and will no longer call Me, ‘My Master.’
2:19And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they will no longer be remembered by name.
2:20And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and bow, sword, and war I will break from the land, and will cause them to lie down securely.
2:21And I will betroth you to Me forever; and I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in justice, and in steadfast love, and in compassion.
2:22And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness; and you will know the LORD.
2:23And it will come to pass in that day,” declares the LORD, “that I will answer. I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth.
2:24And the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil; and they will answer Jezreel.
2:25And I will sow her for Myself in the land; and I will have compassion on Lo-Ruhamah; and I will say to Lo-Ammi, ‘You are My people’; and he will say, ‘My God!’”

Chapter 3

3:1And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another man, yet an adulteress, as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
3:2And I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and one and a half homers of barley.
3:3And I said to her, “You will remain with me many days; you shall not practice prostitution, nor belong to another man; and I also will be toward you.”
3:4For the sons of Israel will remain many days without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without a pillar, without a priestly vest, and without household idols.
3:5Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the latter days.

Chapter 4

4:1“Hear the word of the LORD, sons of Israel; for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
4:2Cursing and lying, murder and theft, and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed.
4:3Therefore the land mourns, and everyone dwelling in it languishes, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; even the fish of the sea are swept away.
4:4Yet let no one contend, and let no one reprove another; for your people are like those who contend with a priest.
4:5And you will stumble by day, and the prophet also will stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.
4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest to Me; and because you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children.
4:7As they increased, so they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.
4:8They feed on the sin offering of My people, and set their desire on their iniquity.
4:9And it will be: like people, like priest. I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
4:10And they will eat, but will not be satisfied; they will practice prostitution, but will not increase, for they have ceased giving heed to the LORD.
4:11Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away the heart.
4:12My people inquire of their wooden idol, and their staff declares to them; for a spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they practice prostitution, departing from their God.
4:13On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice, and on the hills they burn incense, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good.
4:14I will not punish your daughters when they practice prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes. A people without understanding comes to ruin.
4:15Though you practice prostitution, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Do not come to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, nor swear, ‘The LORD lives.’
4:16For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer; can the LORD now pasture them like a lamb in open country?
4:17Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
4:18When their drink is gone, they give themselves to prostitution; her rulers dearly love shame.
4:19The wind has wrapped her in its wings, and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices!”

Chapter 5

5:1“Hear this, O priests; attend, O house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king. For judgment is against you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread over Tabor.
5:2And the rebels have gone deep into slaughter, but I am a rebuke to them all.
5:3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; for now you have practiced prostitution, Ephraim; Israel is defiled.
5:4Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God; for a spirit of prostitution is among them, and they do not know the LORD.
5:5And the pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them.
5:6With their flocks and their herds they will go to seek the LORD, but will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.
5:7They have dealt treacherously against the LORD, for they have fathered foreign children; now the new moon will consume them with their portions.
5:8Blow a horn in Gibeah, a trumpet in Ramah; raise the alarm at Beth-aven: behind you, O Benjamin!
5:9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of reproof; among the tribes of Israel I have made known what is certain.
5:10The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary; I will pour out My wrath upon them like water.
5:11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he willingly followed the command.
5:12And I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
5:13And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound; and Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to a warlike king. Yet he is not able to heal you, nor to cure your wound.
5:14For I am like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I Myself will tear and go; I will carry away, and there is no deliverer.
5:15I will go and return to My place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face. In their distress they will seek Me earnestly.”

Chapter 6

6:1“Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has struck, and He will bind us up.
6:2After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him.
6:3And let us know; let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His appearing is as sure as the dawn, and He will come to us like the rain, like the autumn rain and the spring rain upon the earth.”
6:4“What will I do to you, O Ephraim? What will I do to you, O Judah? Your steadfast love is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew that goes away.
6:5Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and My judgments go forth like the light.
6:6For I desire steadfast love, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
6:7But they, like Adam, transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously against Me.
6:8Gilead is a city of workers of iniquity, marked by bloody footprints.
6:9And as gangs of robbers lie in wait for a man, so a band of priests murders on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed outrage.
6:10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there is the prostitution of Ephraim; Israel is defiled.
6:11Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore the fortunes of My people.”

Chapter 7

7:1“When I heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they practice falsehood, a thief breaks in, and a raiding band strips outside.
7:2And they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before My face.
7:3With their wickedness they make the king glad, and the princes with their lies.
7:4All of them are adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker, who stops stirring after kneading the dough until it is leavened.
7:5On the day of our king, the princes became fevered with wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers.
7:6For their heart is like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their baker sleeps, and in the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7:7All of them are hot like an oven, and they devour their judges. All their kings have fallen; there is none among them who calls to Me.
7:8Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
7:9Foreigners have devoured his strength, and he does not know it; even gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he does not know it.
7:10And the pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they have not returned to the LORD their God, nor sought Him for all this.
7:11And Ephraim is like a simple dove without sense; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
7:12When they go, I spread My net over them; like a bird of the heavens I bring them down. I will discipline them as was announced to their assembly.
7:13Woe to them, for they have wandered from Me! Destruction to them, for they have transgressed against Me! Though I would redeem them, they have spoken lies against Me.
7:14And they have not cried to Me from their heart, but wail on their beds. They gather together for grain and new wine; they rebel against Me.
7:15Though I trained and strengthened their arms, they devise evil against Me.
7:16They return, but not to the Most High; they have become like a deceitful bow. Their princes will fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue; this will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Chapter 8

8:1“Put a horn to your mouth! One comes like an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My Law.
8:2To Me they cry, ‘My God, we—Israel—know You.’
8:3Israel has cast off good; an enemy pursues him.
8:4They have made kings, but not by Me; they have appointed princes, but without My knowledge. Of their silver and their gold they have made idols for themselves, so that they may be cut off.
8:5I have rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?
8:6For this also is from Israel; a craftsman made it, and it is not God. Surely the calf of Samaria will be shattered.
8:7For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind. It has no standing grain; the shoot yields no flour. Even if it should yield, foreigners will swallow it up.
8:8Israel has been swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a vessel in which no one delights.
8:9For they have gone up to Assyria; Ephraim is a wild donkey alone by himself. They have hired lovers.
8:10Though they hire allies among the nations, now I will gather them; and soon they will writhe under the burden imposed by king and princes.
8:11Because Ephraim multiplied altars for sin, they became to him altars for sinning.
8:12Though I write for him the many things of My Law, they are regarded as a strange thing.
8:13As for the sacrifices of My offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now He remembers their iniquity and punishes their sins; they will return to Egypt.
8:14And Israel forgot his Maker and built temples; and Judah multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire into his cities, and it will consume their palaces.”

Chapter 9

9:1“Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not exult like the peoples, for you have practiced prostitution, departing from your God. You have loved a prostitute’s wage on every threshing floor.
9:2Threshing floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will fail her.
9:3They will not remain in the land of the LORD; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean.
9:4They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, nor will their sacrifices please Him. Their sacrifices will be like the food of mourners to them; all who eat it will be unclean. For their food is for themselves; it will not come into the house of the LORD.
9:5What will you do on the appointed day, and on the day of the LORD’s festival?
9:6For behold, they have gone away because of destruction. Egypt will gather them; Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their precious things of silver; thorns will be in their tents.
9:7The days of punishment have come; the days of repayment have come. Israel will know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of the abundance of your iniquity and the greatness of the hostility.
9:8The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman with my God; yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways, and hostility is in the house of his God.
9:9They have gone deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. He remembers their iniquity; He punishes their sins.
9:10“Like grapes in a wilderness I found Israel; like the first fruit on a fig tree at its beginning, I saw your fathers. But they went to Baal-Peor, and consecrated themselves to a shameful thing, and became abominable like the thing they loved.
9:11Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
9:12Though they raise their children, I will bereave them until no one remains. Surely woe to them when I turn away from them!
9:13Ephraim, as I have seen him, was like Tyre, planted in a meadow; yet Ephraim will bring out his sons to a slayer.
9:14Give to them, O LORD—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
9:15All their evil is in Gilgal; surely there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds, I will drive them out of My house; I will love them no more. All their rulers are rebels.
9:16Ephraim has been struck; their root has dried up, and they will yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will put to death the beloved fruit of their womb.
9:17My God will reject them, because they have not listened to Him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.”

Chapter 10

10:1“Israel is a luxuriant vine; he bears fruit for himself. The more abundant his fruit, the more he multiplied altars; the better his land, the better they made their pillars.
10:2Their heart is divided; now they must bear their guilt. He will break down their altars; He will destroy their pillars.
10:3For now they say, ‘We have no king, because we have not feared the LORD. And the king—what can he do for us?’
10:4They speak mere words, swearing falsely as they make covenants; and judgment springs up like a poisonous plant in the furrows of the field.
10:5The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn over it, and its idolatrous priests mourn over its glory, because it has departed from it.
10:6It too will be carried to Assyria as tribute to the warlike king. Ephraim will be put to shame, and Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
10:7Samaria’s king is cut off, like foam on the face of the waters.
10:8The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will grow over their altars; and they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us,’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us.’
10:9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; there they have remained. Will not war overtake them in Gibeah because of the sons of wickedness?
10:10When I desire, I will discipline them; and peoples will be gathered against them when they are bound for their two iniquities.
10:11Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, but I will put a yoke upon her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim; Judah will plow; Jacob will harrow for himself.
10:12Sow for yourselves in righteousness; reap according to steadfast love. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and rains righteousness upon you.
10:13You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice. You have eaten the fruit of falsehood, because you trusted in your own way, in the abundance of your mighty men.
10:14Therefore the roar of battle will rise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mother and children were dashed in pieces.
10:15Thus Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness; at dawn the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.”

Chapter 11

11:1“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My Son.
11:2The more they called them, the farther they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to idols.
11:3Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them.
11:4I drew them with cords of man, with bands of love; and I was to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws, and I bent down and fed them.
11:5He will not return to the land of Egypt; Assyria will be his king, because they refused to return to Me.
11:6The sword will rage against his cities, destroy his gate-bars, and devour them because of their own counsels.
11:7My people are bent on turning away from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will not raise them up at all.
11:8How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart turns within Me; all My compassion is stirred.
11:9I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not a man—the Holy One in your midst—and I will not come in burning anger.
11:10They will walk after the LORD. He will roar like a lion; when He roars, the sons from the west will come trembling.
11:11They will come trembling like a bird from Egypt, and like a dove from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their own houses,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 12

12:1“Ephraim has surrounded Me with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.”
12:2“Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind; all day he multiplies falsehood and violence. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
12:3The LORD also has a case against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds He will repay him.
12:4In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his strength he strove with God.
12:5He strove with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. At Bethel He found him, and there He spoke with us—
12:6even the LORD, God of Hosts; the LORD is His memorial name.
12:7So you, return to your God; keep steadfast love and judgment, and wait continually for your God.
12:8A merchant, in whose hand are deceitful balances—he loves to oppress.
12:9And Ephraim said, ‘Surely I have become rich; I have found wealth for myself. In all my toil they will find in me no iniquity that is sin.’
12:10Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.
12:11I spoke through the prophets; I multiplied visions, and through the prophets I gave parables.
12:12If Gilead is wickedness, surely they have become nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; indeed, their altars are like stone heaps in the furrows of a field.
12:13Jacob fled to the region of Aram; Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep.
12:14By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded.
12:15Ephraim has bitterly provoked Him; therefore his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay his reproach.”

Chapter 13

13:1“When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But when he became guilty through Baal, he died.
13:2And now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast-metal images from their silver—idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of artisans. Of them they say, ‘Those who sacrifice men kiss calves.’
13:3Therefore they will be like the morning cloud, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff driven from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a window.
13:4Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt. You shall know no God besides Me, and there is no Savior except Me.
13:5I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
13:6As they grazed, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, their heart was lifted up. Therefore they forgot Me.
13:7So I became to them like a lion; like a leopard I lie in wait by the way.
13:8I will meet them like a bear bereaved of her young and tear open their chest. There I will devour them like a lioness; a beast of the field will tear them apart.
13:9You have destroyed yourself, O Israel, for your help is only in Me.
13:10Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? And where are your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and rulers’?
13:11I gave you a king in My anger, and I take him away in My wrath.
13:12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is stored away.
13:13The pains of childbirth will come upon him. He is an unwise son, for when the time comes he does not present himself at the opening of the womb.
13:14Shall I ransom them from the power of the realm of the dead? Shall I redeem them from death? Where are your plagues, O death? Where is your destruction, O realm of the dead? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
13:15Though he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind of the LORD rising from the wilderness. It will dry up his fountain, and his spring will become dry. It will plunder the treasury of every precious thing.

Chapter 14

14:1Samaria will bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.”
14:2“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
14:3Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity and receive what is good, and we will render the fruit of our lips.
14:4Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor will we say anymore, “Our god,” to the work of our hands; for in You the fatherless finds mercy.’
14:5I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.
14:6I will be like dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and send out his roots like Lebanon.
14:7His shoots will spread; his splendor will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
14:8Those who dwell under his shadow will return; they will flourish like grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
14:9O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I have answered him and watch over him. I am like a green cypress; your fruit is found from Me.
14:10Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is discerning, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are upright, and the righteous walk in them; but transgressors stumble in them.”