This is the word of the LORD, that came unto Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah: and in the time of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel.

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.

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

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.'

"But I will hedge her way with thorns, and stop it, that she shall not find her footsteps:

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 gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold: which they bestowed upon Baal.

I will destroy her vineyards and fig trees, though she sayeth, 'Lo, here are my rewards, that my lovers have given me.' I will make it a wood, and the wild beasts shall eat it up.

Then will I make a covenant with them, with the wild beasts, with the fowls of the air, and with everything that creepeth upon the earth. As for bow, sword and battle, I will destroy such out of the land, and will make them to sleep safely.

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."

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:

Therefore shall the land be in a miserable cause, and all they that dwell therein, shall mourn. The beasts in the field, the fowls in the air, and the fishes in the sea shall die.

Yet is there none, that will chasten nor reprove another. The priests which should reform other men, are become like the people.

My people perish, because they have no knowledge. Seeing then that thou hast refused understanding, therefore will I refuse thee also: so that thou shalt no more be my priest. And forsomuch as thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also 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 for being defiled, and your brides that became whores: seeing the fathers themselves have meddled with harlots, and offered with unthriftiness: but the people that will not understand must be punished.

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

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.

In that time of the plague shall Ephraim be laid waste, therefore did I faithfully warn the tribes of Israel.

Yet are the princes of Judah become like them, that remove the landmarks: therefore will I pour out my wrath upon them like water.

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.

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, how shall I entreat thee? Seeing your love is like a morning cloud, and like a dew that goeth early away.

Therefore have I cut down the prophets, and let them be slain for my words' sake: so that thy punishment shall come to light.

They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. They go about with their own inventions, but I see them well enough.

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 altogether as hot as an oven. They have devoured their own judges, all their kings are fallen: yet is there none of them that calleth upon 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:

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.

but he hath refused the thing that is good: therefore shall the enemy follow upon him.

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 pour out no wine for a drink offering unto the LORD, neither give they him their slain offerings: but they be unto them as mourner's meats, wherein all they that eat them are defiled. For the bread that they have such lust unto, shall not come into the house of the LORD.

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 like grapes in the wilderness, and saw their fathers as the first figs in the top of the fig tree. But they are gone to Baalpeor, and run away from me to that shameful Idol, and are become as abominable as their lovers.

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

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.

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.

Ephraim was unto me, as a cow that is used to go to plow; therefore I loved him, and fell upon his fair neck. I drove Ephraim, Judah plowed, and Jacob played the husbandman:

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.

I learned Ephraim to go, and bare them in mine arms, but they regarded not me that would have helped them.

I led them with cords of friendship, and with bands of love. I was even he, that laid the yoke upon their necks. I gave them their fodder myself,

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.

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.

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.

Ephraim thinketh thus, "Tush, I am rich, I have good enough: In all my works shall not one fault be found, that I have offended."

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away, and like as dust that the wind taketh away from the floor, and as smoke that goeth out of the chimney.

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.

I will come upon them as a she bear, that is robbed of her whelps, and I will break that stubborn heart of theirs. There will I devour them as a lion: yea the wild beast shall tear them.

Where are thy kings now, that shouldest help thee in all thy cities? Yea and thy judges, of whom thou sayest, "Give me a king and princes?"

Therefore shall sorrows come upon him, as upon a woman that travaileth. An indiscreet son is he: for he considereth not, that he should not have been able to have endured in the time of his birth,

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.