The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry: for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from the LORD.

And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God.

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, that you shall call me Ishi; and shall call me no more Baali.

For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will abolish the bow and the sword and the battle from the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

And I said unto her, you shall abide with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be to you.

By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break all restraint, and bloodshed touches bloodshed.

Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fish of the sea also shall be taken away.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their deeds.

The wind has bound her up in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.

Therefore will I be unto Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.

For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and none shall rescue him.

Therefore have I hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and your judgments are as the light that goes forth.

And as bands of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceases to stir the fire after he has kneaded the dough, until it is leavened.

They return, but not to the most High: they are like a treacherous bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the insolence of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be before they attain to innocence?

For from Israel is even this: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: the stalk has no bud: it shall yield no meal: if so be it does yield, the aliens shall swallow it up.

Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel in which is no pleasure.

For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey alone by itself: Ephraim has hired lovers.

Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin offerings, the altars shall be unto him for sinning.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them like the bread of mourners; all that eat of it shall be defiled: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the precious things of their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tents.

Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he shall break down their altars, he shall ruin their images.

It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall be bound for their two transgressions.

Therefore shall a tumult arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.

So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and gave symbols, by the witness of the prophets.

And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:

I will be your king: where is any other that may save you in all your cities? and your judges of whom you said, Give me a king and princes?

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be your plagues; O grave, I will be your destruction: pity shall be hid from my eyes.

Though he is fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall plunder the treasury of every precious thing.

Samaria shall become desolate; for she has rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his fragrance as Lebanon.

They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and grow as the vine: their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.