First, when the LORD spake unto Hosea, he said unto him, "Go thy way, take a harlot to thy wife, and get children by her: for the land hath committed great whoredom against the LORD."

And the LORD said unto him, "Call his name Jezreel, for I will shortly avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will bring the kingdom of the house of Israel to an end.

She conceived yet again, and bare a daughter. And he said unto him, "Call her name Loruhamah, that is, 'Not obtaining mercy,' for I will have no pity upon the house of Israel, but forget them, and put them clean out of remembrance.

Then said he, "Call his name Loammi. For why? Ye are not my people, therefore will I not be yours.

And though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, which can neither be measured nor told: yet in the place where it is said unto them, 'Ye be not my people': even there shall it be thus reported of them, 'They be the children of the living God.'

As for your mother, ye shall chide with her, and reprove her: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband, unless she put away her whoredoms out of my sight, and her adultery from her breasts.

If no, I shall strip her naked, and set her, even as she came into the world. Yea, I shall lay her waste, and make her like a wilderness, and slay her for thirst.

Their mother hath broken her wedlock, and she that bare them, is come to confusion. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, that give me my water and my bread, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'

And now will I discover her foolishness, even in the sight of her lovers, and no man shall deliver her out of my hands.

I will sow them upon earth, for a seed to mine own self, and will have mercy upon her, that was without mercy. And to them which were not my people, I will say, 'Thou art my people.' And he shall say, 'Thou art 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."

and said unto her, "Thou shalt bide with me a long season, but see that thou playest not the harlot, and look thou meddle with none other man, and then will I keep myself for thee."

Thus the children of Israel shall sit a great while without king and prince, without offering and alter, without priest and revelation.

Blow with the shawmes at Gibeah, and with the trumpet in Ramah, cry out at Bethaven upon the yon-side of Benjamin.

He hath wounded us, and he shall bind us up again; after two days shall he quicken us, in the third day he shall raise us up, so that we shall live in his sight.

But even like as Adam did, so have they broken my covenant, and set me at naught.

Woe be unto them, for they have forsaken me. They must be destroyed, for they have set me at naught. I am he that have redeemed them, and yet they dissemble with me.

Set the horn to thy mouth, and blow: get thee swiftly as an Eagle into the house of the LORD: for they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law.

They have sown wind, therefore shall they reap a whirlwind. Their seed shall bear no corn, there shall no meal be made of their increase: though they reap, yet shall strangers devour it up.

Therefore shall they no more enjoy the corn floors and winepresses, and their sweet wine shall fail them.

Yet am I the LORD thy God, even as when I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and set thee in thy tents, and as in the high feast days.

They that shall turn and sit in his shadow, shall live with corn, and flourish as vines. His renown shall be as the wine of Lebanon.