My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

And the LORD said to him, "Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.

lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst.

She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.

And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

"Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen."

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

When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.

But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

And the LORD said, "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God."

Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.

Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood.

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.

Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.

With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird-- no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded.

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

The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.

For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted 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.'

They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.

Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing.

As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy.

Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

Strangers devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not.

Ephraim has given bitter provocation; so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.

They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.

Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them!

Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute.

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

Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin!

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

And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.

You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,

As they go, I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.

Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.

She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.'

therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.

Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.

Say to your brothers, "You are my people," and to your sisters, "You have received mercy."

They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the LORD to cherish

Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

"Plead with your mother, plead-- for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband-- that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;

Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.

And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the LORD.

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests-- those who rejoiced over it and over its glory-- for it has departed from them.

Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death.

And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, 'These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.

And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.

Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.

My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.

My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.

And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People,'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"

And I 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 I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars.

How 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 treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, "As the LORD lives."

When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame.

For now they will say: "We have no king, for we do not fear the LORD; and a king--what could he do for us?"

The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.

I will not execute my burning 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 wrath.

I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.

Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.

I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

"And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth,

As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.

Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.

For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.

Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow; but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.

there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us--

I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables.

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, "Fall on us."

They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.

Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.

The LORD has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds.

They shall go after the LORD; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west;

"So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God."

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.

and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel,

When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.

Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.

Jacob fled to the land of Aram; there Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep.

My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.

Give them, O LORD-- what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.

So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.

they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.

If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing: in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.

Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

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.

Ephraim has said, "Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin."

They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name:

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

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.

Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.

The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels.

Samaria's king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters.

A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

And I said to her, "You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you."

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.

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

Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute's wages on all threshing floors.

They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against me.

When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside.

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them.

I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

They return, but not upward; they are like a treacherous bow; their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

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.

I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.

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

They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel.

And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them.

The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred.

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."

For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

To me they cry, "My God, we--Israel--know you."

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.

On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers.

Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him.

All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.

By their evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery.

For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.

But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.

After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

They shall not remain in the land of the LORD, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.

For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God; yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them.

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners' bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD?

I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.

And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.

I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open.

"And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.'

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy."

And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.

He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper.

And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of them, "Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!"

They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window.

I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.

but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son, for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb.

It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought;

Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers-- those of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"?

So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is kept in store.