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."

and Jehovah saith unto him, 'Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little, and I have charged the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and have caused to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel;

and it hath come to pass in that day that I have broken the bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.'

Then conceived she again and bare a daughter, and he said to him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah "Uncompassionated" , - for, not again any more, will I have compassion upon the house of Israel, that I should, forgive, them;

but, on the house of Judah, will I have compassion, and I will save them, as Yahweh their God, - but will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by battle, by horses, or by horsemen.

and gathered have been the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel together, and they have appointed to themselves one head, and have gone up from the land, for great is the day of Jezreel.

“[Hosea,] say to your brothers, ‘Ammi (you are my people),’ and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah (you have been pitied and have obtained mercy).’

Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as in the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

And, on her children, not have compassion, - because, the children of paramours, they are.

Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find.

Therefore do I turn back, And I have taken My corn in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness.

And I have caused to cease all her joy, Her festival, her new moon, and her sabbath, Even all her appointed times,

And will lay waste her vine and her fig- tree, as to which she hath said, A present, are they for myself, which my lovers, have given me, - and I will make of them a thicket, and the wild beasts of the field shall devour them.

And I have charged on her the days of the Baalim, To whom she maketh perfume, And putteth on her ring and her ornament, And goeth after her lovers, And Me forgat -- an affirmation of Jehovah.

Therefore, lo, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken unto her heart,

And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name.

And I have made to them a covenant in that day, with the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently.

And I have betrothed thee to Me to the age, And betrothed thee to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies,

I will take you as my bride in good faith, and you will have knowledge of the Lord.

So will I sow her unto me in the land, and will have compassion upon the uncompassionated one, - and will say to him who was No-people-of-mine, My people, thou art, and, he, shall say, My God!

Then said the LORD to me, "Go yet thy way and vow an adulterous woman, whom thy neighbour loveth as the LORD doth the children of Israel: howbeit, they have respect to strange gods, and love the wine cans."

Then I told her, "You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with another man, and I also will wait for you."

Afterwards turned back have the sons of Israel, and sought Jehovah their God, and David their king, and have hastened unto Jehovah, and unto His goodness, in the latter end of the days.

Cursing and lying, and killing and stealing, and committing adultery, have broken forth, and, blood-shedding, unto blood-shedding, doth extend.

And thou hast stumbled in the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have cut off thy mother.

Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!

The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace!

They feed on the sin of My people;
they have an appetite for their transgressions.

And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.

And they shall eat, and not be satisfied, they have encouraged unchastity, yet have not been making increase, - for unto, Yahweh, have they left off giving heed: -

My people, of their Wood, do ask, - Let, their Staff, then tell them, - for, the spirit of unchastity, hath led them astray, and they have unchastely departed from under their God.

They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!

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.

Though thou, Israel, are disposed to play the harlot, yet shouldest not thou have offended, O Judah. Thou shouldest not have run to Gilgal, nor gone up to Bethaven, nor have sworn, 'The LORD liveth.'

Sour is their drink, They have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly.

Hear ye this - O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, and ye, House of the King, give ear, for, to you, pertaineth the sentence, - for, a snare, have ye been to Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

And, a slaughter, have apostates deeply designed, - though, I, was a rebuker to them all.

I, have known Ephraim, and, Israel, hath not been hidden from me, - for, now, hast thou committed unchastity, O Ephraim, Israel, hath made himself impure.

Their doings, will not suffer, them to return unto their God, - for, the spirit of unchastity, is within them, and, Yahweh, have they not known.

And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of Judah will be the same as theirs.

With Yahweh, have they dealt treacherously, for, to alien children, have they given birth, - now, a new moon, shall devour them, with their portions.

Ephraim, shall become, a desolation, in the day of rebuke: Throughout the tribes of Israel, have I hide known what is sure.

The rulers of Judah have become as they who remove a land-mark. Upon them, will I pour out, like water, my wrath.

Ephraim is oppressed, and can have no right of the law. For why? They follow the doctrines of men.

I go -- I turn back unto My place, Till that they are desolate, and have sought My face. In their distress they do seek Me speedily!'

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.

For this cause, have I hewn them in pieces by the prophets, I have slain them by the sayings of my mouth, - and, my justice, as a light goeth forth.

For I have pleasure in loving-kindness, and not in offering: Yea in the knowledge of God, more than in burnt sacrifice.

But, they, like Adam, have transgressed a covenant, - There, have they dealt treacherously with me.

And, like liers in wait for a man, in troops, is a band of priests, on the road, will they murder towards Shechem, - because, a shameful deed, they have done.

In the house of Israel, have I seen a horrible thing, - there, the unchastity of Ephraim, defiled is Israel.

But Judah shall have a harvest for himself, when I return the captivity of my people.

When I would have brought healing to Israel, then was disclosed the iniquity of Ephraim, and the wicked doings of Samaria, for they have wrought falsehood, - when, a thief, would enter, a band roamed about, outside,

And they say not to their own hearts, that, all their wickedness, I remember, now, have their doings, beset them about, right before my face, have they been done.

They make the king and the princes, to have pleasure in their wickedness and lies.

In the day of our king, the rulers, have made themselves ill, with the heat of wine, - he hath extended his hand with scoffers.

For they have made ready, like an oven, their heart, by their lying in wait, - all the night, their baker sleepeth, in the morning, he, kindleth up as it were a blazing fire.

They all, become hot as an oven, and devour their judges, - all their kings, have fallen, there hath been none among them crying unto me.

Foreigners have, eaten up, his strength, and, he, knoweth it not, - even gray hairs, are sprinkled upon him, and, he, knoweth it not.

Therefore doth the Excellency of Israel, answer, to his face; yet have they not returned unto Yahweh their God, nor have they sought him, in spite of all this!

So then, Ephraim, hath become, like a simple dove, having no understanding, on Egypt, have they called, to Assyria, have they gone,

but while they be going here and there, I shall spread my net over them, and draw them down as the fowls of the air. And according as they have been warned, so will I punish them.

Woe to them! for they have taken flight from me, destruction to them! for they have transgressed against me, - when, I, would have ransomed them, then, they, spake - concerning me - falsehoods.

And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me.

"Though I have taught them and strengthened their arms, nevertheless they plot evil against me.

They would return - not to him who is on high! They have become like a deceitful bow, their rulers, shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue, this, shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

To thy mouth, with a horn! Like an eagle, on the house of Yahweh, - because they have violated my covenant, and, against my law, have they transgressed.

To Me they cry, 'My God, we -- Israel -- have known Thee.'

They, have appointed kings, but not from me, have made rulers, but I have not acknowledged them: of their silver and their gold, they made themselves idols, to the end they might be cut off.

He has rejected your [pagan] calf, O Samaria, saying,
“My wrath burns against them.”
How long will they be incapable of innocence?

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

Swallowed up, is Israel; Now, have they gone among the nations, like a vessel in which no man taketh, delight.

For, they, have gone up to Assyria, A wild ass going alone for himself, is Ephraim! They have hired lovers!

Even though they hire them among the nations, at once, will I gather them, when they have begun to be diminished by reason of the burden of the king of rulers.

Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars sinfully, they have become to him the altars of sin.

I have been wont to write for him the myriad things of my law, - Like something alien, have they been accounted.

My sacrificial gifts, have they been sacrificing as common flesh, and have eaten, Yahweh, hath not accepted them, - Now, will he call to mind their iniquity, that he may punish their sin, they, to Egypt, will return.

And forget doth Israel his Maker, and buildeth temples, And Judah hath multiplied cities of defence, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it hath consumed their palaces!

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples,
For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God.
You have loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

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.

They pour out no wine for a drink offering unto the LORD, neither give they him their slain offerings: but they be unto them as mourner's meats, wherein all they that eat them are defiled. For the bread that they have such lust unto, shall not come into the house of the LORD.

For, though they have gone from destruction, yet, Egypt, shall gather them, Memphis, shall bury them, - as for their silver favorites! thistles, shall possess them, thorns in their tents.

Come in have the days of inspection, Come in have the days of recompence, Israel doth know! a fool is the prophet, Mad is the man of the Spirit, Because of the abundance of thine iniquity, And great is the hatred.

The watchman of Ephraim, should have been with my God: As for the prophet, the snare of the fowler, is on all his ways, a prosecution awaiteth him , in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, like the days of Gibeah: he will call to mind their iniquity, he will punish their sins.

As grapes in a wilderness I found Israel, As the first-fruit in a fig-tree, at its beginning, I have seen your fathers, They -- they have gone in to Baal-Peor, And are separated to a shameful thing, And are become abominable like their love.

For though they nourish their sons, I have made them childless -- without man, Surely also, woe to them, when I turn aside from them.

Ephraim! when I have looked to the rock, Is planted in comeliness, And Ephraim is to bring out unto a slayer his sons.

All their wickedness, is in Gilgal, yea, there, have I come to hate them, For the wickedness of their doings - out of my house, will I drive them forth, - no more will I love them, all their rulers, are unruly.

Ephraim hath been smitten, Their root hath dried up, fruit they yield not, Yea, though they bring forth, I have put to death the desired of their womb.

Reject them doth my God, Because they have not hearkened to Him, And they are wanderers among nations!

An empty vine is Israel, Fruit he maketh like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He hath multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They have made goodly standing-pillars.

Their mind is taken away; now they will be made waste: he will have their altars broken down, he will give their pillars to destruction.

For, now, will they say, We have no king, - for we revere not Yahweh, and what could, a king, do for us?

They have spoken words, swearing falsely, in solemnizing a covenant, - therefore shall judgment, spring up like a poisonous plant, on the ridges of the field.

About the calves of Beth-aven, will the inhabitant of Samaria be concerned, - for the people thereof, have mourned over it, and, the ascetics thereof, who, over it, used to exult, shall mourn for the glory thereof, because it hath departed therefrom.

And destroyed have been high places of Aven, the sin of Israel. Thorn and bramble go up on their altars, And they have said to hills, Cover us, And to heights, Fall upon us.

From the days of Gibeah thou hast sinned, O Israel, There they have stood, Not overtake them in Gibeah doth battle, Because of sons of perverseness.

When I desire, then I do bind them, And gathered against them have peoples, When they bind themselves to their two iniquities.

But, Ephraim, shall be a heifer broken in, loving to tread out corn, when, I, have passed over upon her fair neck, - I will drive Ephraim, Judah, shall plow, Jacob, shall harrow to him.