But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.

As he says in Hosea, They will be named my people who were not my people, and she will be loved who was not loved. And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be named the sons of the living God.

The word of the Lord which 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. The start of the word of the Lord by Hosea: And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take for yourself a wife of loose ways, and children of the same, for the land has been untrue to the Lord.

The start of the word of the Lord by Hosea: And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take for yourself a wife of loose ways, and children of the same, for the land has been untrue to the Lord.

Give ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and you, family of the king; for you are to be judged; you have been a deceit at Mizpah and a net stretched out on Tabor.

Gilead is a town of evil-doers, marked with blood. And like a band of thieves waiting for a man, so are the priests watching secretly the way of those going quickly to Shechem, for they are working with an evil design.

On the day of our king, the rulers made him ill with the heat of wine; his hand was stretched out with the men of pride.

And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

His branches will be stretched out, he will be beautiful as the olive-tree and sweet-smelling as Lebanon.

I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.

So now, go in fear of the Lord, and be his servants with true hearts: put away the gods worshipped by your fathers across the River and in Egypt, and be servants of the Lord.

And Samuel said, Has the Lord as much delight in offerings and burned offerings as in the doing of his orders? Truly, to do his pleasure is better than to make offerings, and to give ear to him than the fat of sheep.

And Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will be your name:

This was what the Lord had said to Jehu, Your sons to the fourth generation will be kings of Israel. And so it came about.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for nine years.

Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and sent him offerings.

Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria, shutting it in with his armies.

For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water.

Aram on the east, and the Philistines on the west, who have come against Israel with open mouths. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. But the heart of the people was not turned to him who sent punishment on them, and they made no prayer to the Lord of armies.

And he will put up a flag as a sign to the nations, and he will get together those of Israel who had been sent away, and the wandering ones of Judah, from the four ends of the earth. And the envy of Ephraim will be gone, and those who make trouble for Judah will come to an end: Ephraim will have no more envy of Judah, and there will be an end of Judah's hate for Ephraim.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Get your unworked land ploughed up, do not put in your seeds among thorns.

And the Lord said, Give him the name Lo-ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. But still the number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which may not be measured or numbered; and in place of its being said to them, You are not my people, it will be said to them, You are the sons of the living God

But still the number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which may not be measured or numbered; and in place of its being said to them, You are not my people, it will be said to them, You are the sons of the living God And the children of Israel and the children of Judah will come together and take for themselves one head, and will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold which they gave to the Baal.

For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold which they gave to the Baal.

For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and will say words of comfort to her.

And I will put her as seed in the earth, and I will have mercy on her to whom no mercy was given; and I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people, and they will say, My God.

For the children of Israel will for a long time be without king and without ruler, without offerings and without pillars, and without ephod or images.

For the children of Israel will for a long time be without king and without ruler, without offerings and without pillars, and without ephod or images. And after that, the children of Israel will come back and go in search of the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come in fear to the Lord and to his mercies in the days to come.

There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood. Because of this the land will be dry, and everyone living in it will be wasted away, with the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven; even the fishes of the sea will be taken away. read more. Let no man go to law or make protests, for your people are like those who go to law with a priest. You will not be able to keep on your feet by day, and by night the prophet will be falling down with you, and I will give your mother to destruction. Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no knowledge; because you have given up knowledge, I will give you up, so that you will be no priest to me, because you have not kept in mind the law of your God, I will not keep your children in my memory.

Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no knowledge; because you have given up knowledge, I will give you up, so that you will be no priest to me, because you have not kept in mind the law of your God, I will not keep your children in my memory. Even while they were increasing in number they were sinning against me; I will let their glory be changed into shame. read more. The sin of my people is like food to them; and their desire is for their wrongdoing. And the priest will be like the people; I will give them punishment for their evil ways, and the reward of their acts. They will have food, but they will not be full; they will be false to me, but they will not be increased, because they no longer give thought to the Lord. Loose ways and new wine take away wisdom. My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God.

My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God. They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands.

They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands. I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who have no wisdom will be sent away.

I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who have no wisdom will be sent away. Do not you, O Israel, come into error; do not you, O Judah, come to Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, or take an oath, By the living Lord.

When Ephraim saw his disease and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king; but he is not able to make you well or give you help for your wound.

After two days he will give us life, and on the third day he will make us get up, and we will be living before him. And let us have knowledge, let us go after the knowledge of the Lord; his going out is certain as the dawn, his decisions go out like the light; he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth. read more. O Ephraim, what am I to do to you? O Judah, what am I to do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew which goes early away.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; but for all this, they have not gone back to the Lord their God, or made search for him. And Ephraim is like a foolish dove, without wisdom; they send out their cry to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

I will have nothing to do with your young ox, O Samaria; my wrath is burning against them; how long will it be before the children of Israel make themselves clean? The workman made it, it is no god; the ox of Samaria will be broken into bits.

For they have gone up to Assyria like an ass going by himself; Ephraim has given money to get lovers.

He gives the offerings of his lovers, and takes the flesh for food; but the Lord has no pleasure in them; now he will keep in mind their evil-doing and give them the punishment of their sins; they will go back to Egypt.

They will have no resting-place in the Lord's land, but Ephraim will go back to Egypt, and they will take unclean food in Assyria.

The people of Samaria will be full of fear because of the ox of Beth-aven; its people will have sorrow for it, and its priests will give cries of grief for its glory, for the glory has gone in flight. And they will take it to Assyria and give it to the great king; shame will come on Ephraim, and Israel will be shamed because of its image.

And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will come to destruction; thorns and waste plants will come up on their altars; they will say to the mountains, Be a cover over us; and to the hills, Come down on us.

Put in the seed of righteousness, get in your grain in mercy, let your unploughed earth be turned up: for it is time to make search for the Lord, till he comes and sends righteousness on you like rain.

When Israel was a child he was dear to me; and I took my son out of Egypt.

When Israel was a child he was dear to me; and I took my son out of Egypt.

He will go back to the land of Egypt and the Assyrian will be his king, because they would not come back to me.

Shaking with fear like a bird, they will come out of Egypt, like a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will give them rest in their houses, says the Lord.

Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.

But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will give you tents for your living-places again as in the days of the holy meeting. My word came to the ears of the prophets and I gave them visions in great number, and by the mouths of the prophets I made use of comparisons.

And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen. So they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew which goes early away, like the dust of the grain which the wind is driving out of the crushing-floor, like smoke going up from the fireplace. read more. But I am the Lord your God, from the land of Egypt; you have knowledge of no other God and there is no saviour but me.

I will give the price to make them free from the power of the underworld, I will be their saviour from death: O death! where are your pains? O underworld! where is your destruction? my eyes will have no pity.

Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him, Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not be our salvation; we will not go on horses; we will not again say to the work of our hands, You are our gods; for in you there is mercy for the child who has no father.

I will be as the dew to Israel; he will put out flowers like a lily, and send out his roots like Lebanon. His branches will be stretched out, he will be beautiful as the olive-tree and sweet-smelling as Lebanon. read more. They will come back and have rest in his shade; their life will be made new like the grain, and they will put out flowers like the vine; his name will be like the wine of Lebanon.

I will take away man and beast; I will take away the birds of the heaven and the fishes of the sea; causing the downfall of the evil-doers, and cutting man off from the face of the earth, says the Lord.

And was there till the death of Herod; so that the word of the Lord through the prophet might come true, Out of Egypt have I sent for my son.

But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.

But if these words had been in your minds, My desire is for mercy and not for offerings, you would not have been judging those who have done no wrong.

And they will say to the mountains, Come down on us, and to the hills, Be a cover over us.

But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?

As he says in Hosea, They will be named my people who were not my people, and she will be loved who was not loved. And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be named the sons of the living God.

And he was put in the place of the dead; and on the third day he came back from the dead, as it says in the Writings;

O death, where is your power? O death, where are your pains?

Let us then make offerings of praise to God at all times through him, that is to say, the fruit of lips giving witness to his name.

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.

And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Come down on us, covering us from the face of him who is seated on the high seat, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but their hearts have been turned away from me.

And the daughter of Zion has become like a tent in a vine-garden, like a watchman's house in a field of fruit, like a town shut in by armies.

See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, whose resting-place is in Mount Zion.

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Up! go down to the potter's house, and there I will let my words come to your ears. read more. Then I went down to the potter's house, and he was doing his work on the stones. And when the vessel, which he was forming out of earth, got damaged in the hand of the potter, he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

So Hanamel, the son of my father's brother, came to me, as the Lord had said, to the place of the armed watchmen, and said to me, Give the price and get my property which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for you have the nearest relation's right to the heritage; so get it for yourself. Then it was clear to me that this was the word of the Lord.

The start of the word of the Lord by Hosea: And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take for yourself a wife of loose ways, and children of the same, for the land has been untrue to the Lord.

And the Lord said to him, Give him the name of Jezreel, for after a little time I will send punishment for the blood of Jezreel on the line of Jehu, and put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

And the Lord said to him, Give him the name of Jezreel, for after a little time I will send punishment for the blood of Jezreel on the line of Jehu, and put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

And the Lord said to him, Give him the name of Jezreel, for after a little time I will send punishment for the blood of Jezreel on the line of Jehu, and put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

And after that she gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said, Give her the name Lo-ruhamah; for I will not again have mercy on Israel, to give them forgiveness.

And the Lord said, Give him the name Lo-ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath:

And over him they put a great mass of stones, which is there to this day; then the heat of the Lord's wrath was turned away. So that place was named, The Valley of Achor, to this day.

And they went off the road there with the purpose of stopping for the night in Gibeah: and he went in, seating himself in the street of the town, for no one took them into his house for the night. Now when it was evening they saw an old man coming back from his work in the fields; he was from the hill-country of Ephraim and was living in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. read more. And when he saw the traveller in the street of the town, the old man said, Where are you going? and where do you come from? And he said to him, We are on our way from Beth-lehem-judah to the inmost parts of the hill-country of Ephraim: I came from there and went to Beth-lehem-judah: now I am on my way back to my house, but no man will take me into his house. But we have dry grass and food for our asses, as well as bread and wine for me, and for the woman, and for the young man with us: we have no need of anything. And the old man said, Peace be with you; let all your needs be my care; only do not take your rest in the street. So he took them into his house and gave the asses food; and after washing their feet they took food and drink. While they were taking their pleasure at the meal, the good-for-nothing men of the town came round the house, giving blows on the door; and they said to the old man, the master of the house, Send out that man who came to your house, so that we may take our pleasure with him. So the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said, No, my brothers, do not this evil thing; this man has come into my house, and you are not to do him this wrong. See, here is my daughter, a virgin, and his servant-wife: I will send them out for you to take them and do with them whatever you will. But do no such thing of shame to this man. But the men would not give ear to him: so the man took his woman and sent her out to them; and they took her by force, using her for their pleasure all night till the morning; and when dawn came they let her go.

And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel had news of it; and, painting her eyes and dressing her hair with ornaments, she put her head out of the window. And when Jehu was coming into the town, she said, Is all well, O Zimri, taker of your master's life? read more. Then, looking up to the window, he said, Who is on my side, who? and two or three unsexed servants put out their heads. And he said, Take her and put her out of the window. So they sent her down with force, and her blood went in a shower on the wall and on the horses; and she was crushed under their feet. And he came in, and took food and drink; then he said, Now see to this cursed woman, and put her body into the earth, for she is a king's daughter. And they went out to put her body into the earth, but nothing of her was to be seen, only the bones of her head, and her feet, and parts of her hands. So they came back and gave him word of it. And he said, This is what the Lord said by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the heritage of Jezreel the flesh of Jezebel will become food for dogs; And the dead body of Jezebel will be like waste dropped on the face of the earth in the heritage of Jezreel; so that they will not be able to say, This is Jezebel.

Do not you, O Israel, come into error; do not you, O Judah, come to Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, or take an oath, By the living Lord.

Ephraim is joined to false gods; let him be.

But like a man, they have gone against the agreement; there they were false to me.

O Israel, you have done evil from the days of Gibeah; there they took up their position, so that the fighting against the children of evil might not overtake them in Gibeah.

And was there till the death of Herod; so that the word of the Lord through the prophet might come true, Out of Egypt have I sent for my son.

But still death had power from Adam till Moses, even over those who had not done wrong like Adam, who is a picture of him who was to come.

As he says in Hosea, They will be named my people who were not my people, and she will be loved who was not loved. And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be named the sons of the living God.

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.

And Hoshea, the son of Elah, made a secret design against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and, attacking him, put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for nine years.