When the LORD spoke at the first by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking the LORD."

The LORD said to him, "Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.

He said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Contend with your mother. Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;

For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'

She will follow after her lovers, but she won't overtake them; and she will seek them, but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.'

For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

I will give her vineyards from there, 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.

For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.

So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.

Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel; for the LORD has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

"Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God's law, I will also forget your children.

It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.

For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will the LORD feed them like a lamb in a meadow.

"Listen to this, you priests. Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king. For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.

Their deeds won't allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

They are unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.

"Come, and let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.

"Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

"For you also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.

When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the gang of robbers ravages outside.

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they haven't returned to the LORD their God, nor sought him, for all this.

Woe to them. For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them. For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

They haven't cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.

They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

For this is even from Israel. The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.

For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they became for him altars for sinning.

I wrote for him the many things of my law; but they were regarded as a strange thing.

As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; But the LORD doesn't accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses."

Do not rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor.

They won't pour out wine offerings to the LORD, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their appetite. It will not come into the house of the LORD.

For, behold, they have gone away from destruction. Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.

As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, none with child, and no conception.

"All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. All their rulers are rebels.

Surely now they will say, "We have no king; for we do not fear the LORD; and the king, what can he do for us?"

The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it.

It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.

You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.

I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; and I will not come in wrath.

They will walk after the LORD, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west.

Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.

The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn't come to the opening of the womb.

Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open."

Israel, return to the LORD your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.

Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods.' for in you the fatherless finds mercy."

"I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; from me your fruit is found."

Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.