A message from the LORD came to Beeri's son Hosea during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Joash's son Jeroboam, who was king of Israel.

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."

"Call your mother to account, call her for she is not my wife, and I'm not her husband. Let her do away with her seductive looks and remove her adultery from between her breasts.

So now I'll reveal her lewdness to the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my control.

I'll destroy her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, "These are the earnings that my lovers paid me. I'll make them grow into a forest, and the wild animals will eat from them.'

There I will restore her vineyards to her, and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope. There she will respond as she did in her youth, when she came up from Egypt."

I will remove the names of the Baals from her vocabulary they will not be remembered by their names anymore.

I will make a covenant with them at that time, a covenant with the wild animals of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creatures of the ground. I will banish the battle bow, the sword, and war from the earth. I will cause my people to lie down where it is safe.

"Hear this message from the LORD, people of Israel. Indeed, the LORD brings a charge against the people who live in the land for there is no truth and no gracious love or knowledge of God in the land.

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.

I know Ephraim, and Israel cannot hide from me, since you, Ephraim, have been acting like a prostitute, defiling Israel.

"Their actions hinder them from turning to their God, because a spirit of fornication is in their midst, and the LORD they do not know.

They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

Therefore I cut them to pieces by the prophets, killing them by the words from my mouth. The verdict against you shines like a beacon.

"So, Judah, a harvest has been appointed for you when I restore my people from captivity."

"On the king's festival day the princes got drunk from wine, so the king joined the mockers.

Woe to them because they have run away from me. Ruin to them because they have sinned against me. Even though I redeemed them, they spread lies against me.

They will not cry to me from their heart instead, they wail on their beds. They gather together to eat and drink, turning away from me.

They set kings in place, but not by me. They established princes, whom I did not recognize. They crafted idols for themselves from their silver and gold; as a result, they will be destroyed.

Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen, it is not God; therefore Samaria's calf will be broken in pieces.

I prescribed great things from my Law for them, but they considered them profane.

They offer me meat from the sacrifices of my offerings, and they eat from it, but the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their transgression and pay them back for their sins; to Egypt they will return.

"I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree's first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.

Even if they rear their children, I will, in turn, make them childless in fact, woe to them when I turn away from them!

"All of their wickedness started in Gilgal, because I began to hate them there. Because of the wickedness of their behavior, I will drive them from my Temple. I will not love them anymore; all their leaders are rebels.

Their hearts are divided; from now on they are to be found guilty. God will tear down their altars, he will destroy their stone idols.

From now on they will say, "We have no king, because we did not fear the LORD and what would a king do for us?'

"From the time of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel; There they took their stand; the battle at Gibeah could not subdue the lawless.

"When Israel was a young child I loved him, and from Egypt I called my son.

The more I called out to them, the farther they fled from me; they sacrificed to Baals, burning incense to carved images.

I guided them with human kindness, with loving reins. I acted toward them like one who removes a yoke from their neck; I bent down and fed them.

My people are determined to turn away from me; though they call to the Most High, no one is worshiping.

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

Trembling like a bird, they will come out of Egypt, and as a dove from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their houses," declares the LORD.

but now they are sinning more and more, crafting idols from melted silver. Their idols are made with the most exacting skill, all of it the work of craftsmen. People say about them, "They offer human sacrifice, and kiss calf-shaped idols.'

Therefore they will be like morning clouds, like early morning dew that evaporates, like chaff blown away from the threshing floor, or like smoke from a chimney."

"I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you have known no god except for me, because except for me there is no savior.

"From the power of Sheol I will rescue them, from death I will redeem them. Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? My eyes will remain closed to your pleas for compassion.

Even though he is fruitful compared to his relatives, an east wind will come, the LORD's wind storm from the wilderness, and his spring will evaporate. His fountain will dry up, and the LORD's wind storm will plunder all the expensive vessels of the treasury.

"I will correct their apostasy, loving them freely, since my anger will have turned away from them.

Those who live under its protection will surely return. Their grain will flourish; they will blossom like a vine, and Israel's scent will be like wine from Lebanon.