When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him:

Go and marry a promiscuous wife
and have children of promiscuity,
for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity
by abandoning the Lord.

So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

I will sow her in the land for Myself,
and I will have compassion
on No Compassion;
I will say to Not My People:
You are My people,
and he will say, “You are My God.”

They go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord
but do not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
for he is determined to follow what is worthless.

When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria
and sent a delegation to the great king.
But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.

Come, let us return to the Lord.
For He has torn us,
and He will heal us;
He has wounded us,
and He will bind up our wounds.

He will revive us after two days,
and on the third day He will raise us up
so we can live in His presence.

Let us strive to know the Lord.
His appearance is as sure as the dawn.
He will come to us like the rain,
like the spring showers that water the land.

Foreigners consume his strength,
but he does not notice.
Even his hair is streaked with gray,
but he does not notice.

Your calf-idol is rejected, Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?

Though they offer sacrificial gifts
and eat the flesh,
the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their guilt
and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.

They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins.

Israel is a lush vine;
it yields fruit for itself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he increased the altars.
The better his land produced,
the better they made the sacred pillars.

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
will be destroyed;
thorns and thistles will grow over their altars.
They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Sow righteousness for yourselves
and reap faithful love;
break up your unplowed ground.
It is time to seek the Lord
until He comes and sends righteousness
on you like the rain.

My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they call to Him on high,
He will not exalt them at all.

How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
I have had a change of heart;
My compassion is stirred!

They will follow the Lord;
He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
His children will come trembling from the west.

Ephraim chases the wind
and pursues the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.

The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;
He will repay him based on his actions.

In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,
and as an adult he wrestled with God.

Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor.
He found him at Bethel,
and there He spoke with him.

But Ephraim says:
“How rich I have become;
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me
that I can be punished for!”

Jacob fled to the land of Aram.
Israel worked to earn a wife;
he tended flocks for a wife.

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

Where now is your king,
that he may save you in all your cities,
and the rulers you demanded, saying,
“Give me a king and leaders”?

Labor pains come on him.
He is not a wise son;
when the time comes,
he will not be born.

Although he flourishes among his brothers,
an east wind will come,
a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert.
His water source will fail,
and his spring will run dry.
The wind will plunder the treasury
of every precious item.

I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.