When a message from the LORD came to Hosea, the LORD told him, "Go marry a prostitute and have children with her, because the land is prostituting itself by departing from the LORD."

She will pursue her lovers, but she won't catch up with them. She will seek them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, "I'll go back and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now.'

I'll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals, to whom she burned incense, and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels so she could go after her lovers and forget me," declares the LORD.

"Therefore, look! I will now allure her. I will make her go out to the wilderness, and will speak to her heart.

Then the LORD told me: "Go love your wife again, even though she is being loved by another and is committing adultery. Love her the same way the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they look to other gods and love raisin cakes."

My people seek counsel from their piece of wood, and their diviner's rod speaks to them. For a spirit of prostitution causes them to go astray; in their immorality they desert their God.

"Even though you prostitute yourself, Israel let not Judah incur guilt don't go to Gilgal, or visit Beth-aven, or swear an oath using the LORD's name.

They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

"Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, and the alarm in Ramah. Cry out at Beth-aven Go out, Benjamin!

"I will leave and go back to my place until they admit their offense and seek my face. When affliction comes to them, they will eagerly seek me."

When they go, I'll cast my net over them. I'll bring them down, as one shoots birds in the sky. I'll chasten them, as the assembly has already heard.

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