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."

Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, so the LORD told Hosea, "Name her "Lo-ruhamah,' because I will no longer be showing mercy to the house of Israel, nor will I forgive them.

"Call your mother to account, call her for she is not my wife, and I'm not her husband. Let her do away with her seductive looks and remove her adultery from between her breasts.

Otherwise, I'll strip her naked as she was on the day she was born make her like a wilderness, turn her into a parched land, and cause her to die of thirst.

Furthermore, I'll not show pity on her children, since they are children of prostitution.

"Look how I'm blocking her path with thorns and building a wall to hinder her, so she can't find her way.

She will pursue her lovers, but she won't catch up with them. She will seek them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, "I'll go back and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now.'

She didn't recognize that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil, and it was I who gave her silver, while they crafted gold 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.

So now I'll reveal her lewdness to the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my control.

I'll put a stop to her mirth, along with her celebrations, her New Moons, her Sabbaths, and all of her festive assemblies.

I'll destroy her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, "These are the earnings that my lovers paid me. I'll make them grow into a forest, and the wild animals will eat from them.'

I'll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals, to whom she burned incense, and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels so she could go after her lovers and forget me," declares the LORD.

"Therefore, look! I will now allure her. I will make her go out to the wilderness, and will speak to her heart.

There I will restore her vineyards to her, and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope. There she will respond as she did in her youth, when she came up from Egypt."

I will remove the names of the Baals from her vocabulary they will not be remembered by their names anymore.

I will plant my people in the land for myself. I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy I will say to those who are not my people, "You are my people!' and they will say, "You are my God.'"

Then the LORD told me: "Go love your wife again, even though she is being loved by another and is committing adultery. Love her the same way the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they look to other gods and love raisin cakes."

So I bought her back for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and one and a half omers of barley.

I told her, "You will remain with me a long time, you won't be promiscuous, you won't be involved with any man, and I'll do the same."

Neither threshing floor nor winepress will sustain them, and the new wine will disappoint her.

The time for your judgment has now come; payday is here and Israel knows it. The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is insane. Because of your great sin, the hatred against you is great.

"Ephraim, the well-trained heifer, loves to thresh grain, so I will spare her neck. I will turn Ephraim into a pack animal. Judah will pull the plow, and Jacob will turn up the fallow ground.

I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their ribs. I will devour them like a lion the wild beasts will rip them apart.

Samaria will be held guilty, because she has rebelled against her God. By the sword they will fall with their infants dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women torn open."