[1] The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the
son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
[2] The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to
Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for
the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
[3] So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived,
and bare him a son.
[4] And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little
while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will
cause to cease the kingdom of the house of
[5] And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of
[6] And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him,
Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of
[7] But I will have mercy upon the house of
[8] Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
[9] Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and
I will not be your God.
[10] Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that
in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall
be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
[11] Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be
gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out
of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
[1] Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your
sisters, Ru-hamah.
[2] Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I
her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her
adulteries from between her breasts;
[3] 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 like a dry land, and slay her with
thirst.
[4] And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the
children of whoredoms.
[5] 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.
[6] Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a
wall, that she shall not find her paths.
[7] And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I
will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than
now.
[8] For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
[9] Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof,
and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given
to cover her nakedness.
[10] And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
[11] I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new
moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
[12] And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath
said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a
forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
[13] And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned
incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and
she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
[14] Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
[15] 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.
[16] And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call
me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
[17] For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they
shall no more be remembered by their name.
[18] And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of
the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the
ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth,
and will make them to lie down safely.
[19] And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee
unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies.
[20] I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt
know the LORD.
[21] And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD,
I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
[22] And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and
they shall hear Jezreel.
[23] And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon
her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my
people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
[1] Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman
beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD
toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of
wine.
[2] So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer
of barley, and an half homer of barley:
[3] And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt
not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be
for thee.
[4] For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and
without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an
ephod, and without teraphim:
[5] Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD
their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in
the latter days.
[1] Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel:
for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there
is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
[2] By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing
adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
[3] Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein
shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven;
yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
[4] Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as
they that strive with the priest.
[5] Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall
with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
[6] My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast
rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to
me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy
children.
[7] As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I
change their glory into shame.
[8] They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their
iniquity.
[9] And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them
for their ways, and reward them their doings.
[10] For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit
whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to
the LORD.
[11] Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
[12] My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth
unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have
gone a whoring from under their God.
[13] They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense
upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is
good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall
commit adultery.
[14] I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor
your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with
whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not
understand shall fall.
[15] Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and
come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, The LORD
liveth.
[16] For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will
feed them as a lamb in a large place.
[17] Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
[18] Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her
rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
[19] The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed
because of their sacrifices.
[1] Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of
Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you,
because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
[2] And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been
a rebuker of them all.
[3] I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim,
thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
[4] They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the
spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
[5] And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall
Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.
[6] They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the
LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.
[7] They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have
begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
[8] Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at
Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.
[9] Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of
Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
[10] The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound:
therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
[11] Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly
walked after the commandment.
[12] Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of
Judah as rottenness.
[13] When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went
Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor
cure you of your wound.
[14] For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the
house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none
shall rescue him.
[15] I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their
offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
[1] Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he
hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
[2] After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us
up, and we shall live in his sight.
[3] Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going
forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the
latter and former rain unto the earth.
[4] O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth
away.
[5] Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by
the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
[6] For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings.
[7] But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they
dealt treacherously against me.
[8] Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with
blood.
[9] And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests
murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
[10] I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the
whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
[11] Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the
captivity of my people.
[1] When I would have healed Israel, then the
iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they
commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth
without.
[2] And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their
wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my
face.
[3] They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with
their lies.
[4] They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth
from raising after he hath kneeded the dough, until it be leavened.
[5] In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles
of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
[6] For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie
in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a
flaming fire.
[7] They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all
their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.
[8] Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake
not turned.
[9] Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea,
gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.
[10] And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not
return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
[11] Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to
Egypt, they go to Assyria.
[12] When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring
them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their
congregation hath heard.
[13] Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them!
because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet
they have spoken lies against me.
[14] And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled
upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel
against me.
[15] Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they
imagine mischief against me.
[16] They return, but not to the most 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.
[1] Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an
eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my
covenant, and trespassed against my law.
[2] Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
[3] Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue
him.
[4] 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.
[5] Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled
against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
[6] For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is
not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
[7] For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it
hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers
shall swallow it up.
[8] Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a
vessel wherein is no pleasure.
[9] For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:
Ephraim hath hired lovers.
[10] Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather
them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
[11] Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto
him to sin.
[12] I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were
counted as a strange thing.
[13] They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat
it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and
visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
[14] For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and
Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
[1] Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people:
for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every
cornfloor.
[2] The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine
shall fail in her.
[3] They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to
Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
[4] They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they
be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of
mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their
soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.
[5] What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of
the LORD?
[6] For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather
them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles
shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
[7] The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come;
Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the
multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
[8] The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare
of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.
[9] They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah:
therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
[10] I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as
the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor,
and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according
as they loved.
[11] As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the
birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
[12] Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that
there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
[13] Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but
Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
[14] Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying
womb and dry breasts.
[15] All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the
wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love
them no more: all their princes are revolters.
[16] Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no
fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of
their womb.
[17] My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him:
and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
[1] Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit
unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the
altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
[2] Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break
down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
[3] For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the
LORD; what then should a king do to us?
[4] They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus
judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
[5] The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of
Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof
that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
[6] It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb:
Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
[7] As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
[8] The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed:
the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to
the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
[9] O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they
stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake
them.
[10] 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.
[11] And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out
the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride;
Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
[12] Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your
fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain
righteousness upon you.
[13] Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten
the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy
mighty men.
[14] Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy
fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of
battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
[15] So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a
morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
[1] When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and
called my son out of Egypt.
[2] As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto
Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
[3] I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they
knew not that I healed them.
[4] I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to
them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
[5] He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall
be his king, because they refused to return.
[6] And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his
branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.
[7] And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called
them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
[8] How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?
how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is
turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
[9] I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return
to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of
thee: and I will not enter into the city.
[10] They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he
shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
[11] They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the
land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.
[12] Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with
deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
[1] Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the
east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant
with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
[2] The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob
according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
[3] He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he
had power with God:
[4] Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made
supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
[5] Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
[6] Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on
thy God continually.
[7] He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth
to oppress.
[8] And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out
substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
[9] And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make
thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
[10] I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions,
and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
[11] Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice
bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the
fields.
[12] And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a
wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
[13] And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a
prophet was he preserved.
[14] Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he
leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
[1] When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself
in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.
[2] And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of
their silver, and 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.
[3] Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew
that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the
floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
[4] Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt
know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
[5] I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
[6] According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled,
and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.
[7] Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way
will I observe them:
[8] I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will
rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the
wild beast shall tear them.
[9] O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.
[10] I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all
thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
[11] I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.
[12] The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
[13] The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an
unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of
children.
[14] I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them
from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction:
repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
[15] Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come,
the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall
become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of
all pleasant vessels.
[16] Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her
God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and
their women with child shall be ripped up.
[1] O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou
hast fallen by thine iniquity.
[2] Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away
all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our
lips.
[3] Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will
we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the
fatherless findeth mercy.
[4] I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine
anger is turned away from him.
[5] I will be as the dew unto
[6] His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive
tree, and his smell as
[7] They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as
the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of
[8] Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have
heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit
found.
[9] Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he
shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in
them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.