The word of Jehovah that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

The beginning of the word of Jehovah through Hosea. And Jehovah said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms; for the land is entirely given up to whoredom, away from Jehovah.

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Sons of the living God.

And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up out of the land: for great is the day of Jizreel.

Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her as a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land; for there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Yet let no man strive, and let no man reprove; for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.

And it shall be as the people so the priest; and I will visit their ways upon them, and recompense to them their doings;

they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because the shade thereof is good; therefore your daughters play the harlot and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, let not Judah trespass; and come ye not unto Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven, nor swear As Jehovah liveth!

For Israel is refractory as an untractable heifer; now will Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a wide pasture.

Ephraim is joined to idols: leave him alone.

Their drink is sour; they give themselves up to whoredom; her great men passionately love their shame.

Hear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king: for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom; Israel is defiled.

Their doings do not allow them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they know not Jehovah.

Ephraim shall be a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which is sure.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because in selfwill he walked after the commandment of man.

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

For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.

Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face;

and we shall know, we shall follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth.

What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? What shall I do unto thee, Judah? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and my judgment goeth forth as the light.

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is tracked with blood.

And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; yea, they commit lewdness.

In the house of Israel have I seen a horrible thing: the whoredom of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.

Also, for thee, Judah, is a harvest appointed, when I shall turn again the captivity of my people.

When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they practise falsehood; and the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers assaileth without.

They all practise adultery, as an oven heated by the baker: he ceaseth from stirring the fire after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

Ephraim, he mixeth himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

And Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

When they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowl of the heavens; I will chastise them, according as their assembly hath heard.

Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He cometh as an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and rebelled against my law.

Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity?

For from Israel is this also: a workman made it, and itis no God: for the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

Israel is swallowed up: now are they become among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

For they are gone up to Assyria as a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

I have prescribed unto him the manifold things of my law: they are counted as a strange thing.

Rejoice not, Israel, exultingly, as the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved harlot's hire upon every corn-floor.

They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean.

They shall pour out no offerings of wine to Jehovah, neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him: they shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be defiled: for their bread shall be for themselves; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.

The days of visitation are come; the days of recompence are come: Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the inspired man is mad, because of the greatness of thine iniquity, and the great enmity.

Is Ephraim a watchman with my God? nay the prophet is a fowler's snare on all his ways, enmity in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness; as first-ripe fruit on the fig-tree, I saw your fathers at the beginning: they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame, and became abominations like their lover.

As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away as a bird, no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

Ephraim, as I saw him, was a Tyre planted in a beautiful place; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the slayer.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are rebellious.

Ephraim is smitten: their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they should bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.

Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues.

Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.

For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?

They speak mere words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.

Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria as a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.

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

And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out the corn; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

And a tumult shall arise among thy peoples, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with the children.

As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baals, and burned incense to graven images.

I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I gently caused them to eat.

How shall I give thee over, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee up, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

they shall hasten as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will cause them to dwell in their houses, saith Jehovah.

Ephraim feedeth on wind, and pursueth after the east wind: all day long he multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

even Jehovah, the God of hosts, Jehovah is his memorial.

He is a merchant, balances of deceit are in his hand; he loveth to oppress.

But I that am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt will again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

If Gilead is iniquity, surely they are but vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the lattice.

Yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou hast known no God but me; and there is no saviour besides me.

And I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard I will lurk for them by the way;

I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the covering of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lioness: the beast of the field shall tear them.

It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against me, against thy help.

Where then is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? --

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid by in store.

The pangs of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is a son not wise; for at the time of the breaking forth of children, he was not there.

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death: where, O death, are thy plagues? where, O Sheol, is thy destruction? Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Thou art our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.

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

His shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

They shall return and sit under his shadow; they shall revive as corn, and blossom as the vine: the renown thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer him, and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found.

Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? intelligent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.