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 Yahweh with Hosea, was, - that Yahweh said unto Hosea, Go take thee a woman of unchastity, and the children of unchastity, for, unchastely indeed, hath the land been going away from following Yahweh.

The LORD told Hosea, "Name the child "Jezreel,' because in a little while I'll avenge the blood that was shed by Jehu's dynasty at Jezreel. I'll put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jizreel.

And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And he said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, so that I should pardon them.

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.

Tell your brethren, that they are my people; and your sistren, that they have obtained mercy.

Plead earnestly with your mother (for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.

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.

For their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns; and I will fence her in with a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

and though she run after her lovers, yet shall she not get them: she shall seek them, but not find them. Then shall she say, 'Well, I will go turn again to my first husband, for at that time was I better at ease, than now.'

And she did not know that I had given her the corn and the new wine and the oil, and had multiplied to her the silver and gold, which they employed for Baal.

"Therefore I'll return and take back my grain at harvest time and my new wine in its season. I'll take back my wool and my flax that was to have covered her nakedness.

And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me. And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

“I will punish her for the days of the Baals
When she used to offer sacrifices to them
And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.

And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me, My husband, and shalt call me no more, Baali;

“For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
So that they will be mentioned by their names no more.

And I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will break bow and sword and battle out of the land; and I will make them to lie down safely.

I will make you my wife forever I will make you my wife in a way that is righteous, in a manner that is just, by a love that is gracious, and by a motive that is mercy.

And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

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.'"

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."

And after that, the children of Israel will come back and go in search of the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come in fear to the Lord and to his mercies in the days to come.

Hear the word of the LORD, O ye children of Israel: For the LORD must punish them, that dwell in the land. And why? There is no faithfulness, there is no mercy, there is no knowledge of God in the land:

There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.
They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

For this shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

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

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; for thou hast rejected knowledge, and I will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, their staff must tell them. For a whorish mind hath deceived them, so that they commit fornication against their God.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your daughters-in-law for their committing adultery; for they themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with prostitutes: and the people that doth not understand shall come to ruin.

For Israel is gone back like a wanton cow. The LORD therefore shall make her feed, as the lamb that goeth astray.

The wind hath bound her up in its wings, - that they may be ashamed, because of their sacrifices.

O ye priests, hear this; take heed, O thou household of Israel; give ear, O thou kingly house. For this punishment will come upon you, that are become a snare unto Mizphah, and a spread net unto the mount of Tabor.

They are not minded to turn unto their God, for they have an whorish heart, so that they cannot know the LORD.

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

The princes of Judah are become like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

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!'

Come, and let us return unto Yahweh! for, he, hath torn, that he might heal us, - smitten, that he might bind us up.

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.

And let us know, let us follow on to know LORD. His going forth is sure as the morning, and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters 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 I have hewed them by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth. And thy judgments are [as] the light that goes forth.

For it is love that I seek, and not sacrifice; knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

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

Like a gang of thieves that stalk a man, priests commit murder along the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes.

Judah too! a harvest is appointed for thee, - in that I will bring back the captivity of my people.

And they say not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now do their own doings encompass them; they are before my face.

All these burn in adultery, as it were an oven that the baker heateth when he hath left kneading, till the dough 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.

Therefore must Ephraim be mixed among the Heathen. Ephraim is become like a cake that no man turneth:

Ephraim is like a dove, that is beguiled, and hath no heart. Now call they upon the Egyptians, now go they to the Assyrians:

As they are going, I will spread My net over them;
I will bring them down like birds of the sky.
I will discipline them in accordance
with the news that reaches their assembly.

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.

They return, but not to him that is on high; they are like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy shall pursue him.

They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

For, of Israel, is even that thing! A craftsman, made it, and, a No-god, it is! For, into fragments, shall the Calf of Samaria be broken.

For, to the wind, they sow, and, to the whirlwind, they reap: stalk, hath it none, That which shooteth forth, shall yield no meal, If so be it yield, foreigners, swallow it lip,

Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations, like an object that no one desires.

They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.

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.

they have forgotten him that made them, they build churches, and Judah maketh many strong cities: therefore will I send a fire into their cities, and it shall consume their places.

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.

Be ye sure, O Israel: the time of visitation is come, the days of recompensing are at hand. As for the prophet, ye hold him for a fool; and him that is rich in the spirit, for a mad man: so great is your wickedness and malice.

Ephraim hath made himself a watchman of my God, a prophet that is become a snare to do hurt in every street, and abomination in the house of his God.

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.

Ephraim flyeth like a bird, so shall their glory also: Insomuch that they shall neither beget, conceive nor bear children.

For even should they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that not a man remain: for woe also to them when I shall have departed from them!

Give them, Lord—
What should You give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!

Ephraim is hewn down, their root is dried up, so that they shall bring no more fruit: yea and though they bring forth any, yet will I slay even the best beloved fruit of their body.

My God will reject them, because they hearkened not unto him, - that they may become wanderers throughout the nations.

Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. According to the goodness of their land they have made goodly pillars.

They that dwell in Samaria have worshiped the calf of Bethaven: therefore shall the people mourn over them, yea and the priests also, that in their wealthiness rejoiced with them. And why? It shall pass away from them.

Itself also, to Assyria, shall be borne along, as a present to a hostile king, - shame, shall Ephraim receive, that Israel, may be ashamed, of his own counsel.

Destroyed will be the high places of Aven, that are the sin of Israel. Both thorn and thistle will grow up over their altars. They will call out to the mountains, "Cover us!' and to the hills, "Fall on us!'

O Israel, you have done evil from the days of Gibeah; there they took up their position, so that the fighting against the children of evil might not overtake them in Gibeah.

It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

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.

that they might sow unto righteousness, and reap the fruits of well doing: that they might plow up their fresh land and seek the LORD, till he came, and learned them righteousness.

there shall grow a sedition among thy people. All thy strong cities shall be laid waste, even as Shalman was destroyed with his familiars, through him that was avenged of Arbel in the day of battle: where the mother perished with her children.

So will it happen to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness! When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be destroyed.

And I it was that taught Ephraim to walk, He took them upon his arms, but they knew not that I healed them.

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.

that they should not go again into Egypt. And now is Assyria their king: for they would not turn unto me.

Therefore shall the sword begin in their cities, the store that they have laid up shall be destroyed and eaten up: and that because of their own imaginations.

And my people are bent on backsliding from me: though they call them to him that is on high, none at all will exalt him .

therefore have I not turned me to destroy Ephraim in my wrathful displeasure. For I am God, and no man: I am even that holy one in the midst of thee, though I came not within the city.

The LORD roareth like a lion, that they may follow him. Yea, as a lion roareth he, that they may be afraid like the children of the sea:

that they may be scattered away from Egypt, as men scare birds: and frayed away, as doves used to be, from the Assyrians' land: and that because I would have them tarry at home, sayeth the LORD.

But, a controversy, hath Yahweh with Judah, - so that he may bring punishment on Jacob, according to his ways, According to his doings, repay him.

He strove with the angel, and gat the victory: so that he prayed and desired him. He found him at Bethel, and there he talked with us.

And Ephraim saith, Nevertheless I am become rich, I have found me out substance; in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

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.

I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come back on him.

And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

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.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: that thou shouldest know no God but me only, and that thou shouldest have no Saviour but only me.

I took diligent heed of thee in the wilderness, that dry land.