\v 1 Yahweh gave Hosea these messages during the years that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and when Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
\p
\v 2 When Yahweh spoke for the first time through the prophet Hosea, he said, "Go and marry a prostitute. She will have children because she has given herself to other men. When you marry a prostitute, this will show how my people have been so shamefully unfaithful to me. It will show them how they have left me, their God."
\s5
\v 3 So Hosea married Gomer, daughter of Diblaim. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
\p
\v 4 Yahweh said to Hosea, "Give your baby the name Jezreel, because I will soon punish the family members of King Jehu for the murders that he committed in the city of Jezreel. I will also bring the kingdom of Israel to an end.
\v 5 On that day I will destroy the fighting strength of the army of Israel, there in the Valley of Jezreel."
\s5
\p
\v 6 Gomer soon became pregnant again, and this time she gave birth to a daughter. Then Yahweh spoke to him, "Give her the name Lo-Ruhamah, which means 'no mercy,' because I will no longer have any mercy for the people of Israel, and I will not forgive them for even one sin they have committed.
\v 7 But I will have mercy on the people of Judah. I will save them—but not by deadly weapons, the bow, the sword, or battle. I will not save them by armies or by strong horses and those who ride on them. Instead, I, Yahweh myself, will save them."
\s5
\p
\v 8 After Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son.
\v 9 Yahweh said "Give him the name Lo-Ammi, which means 'not my people,' because you, O Israel, are not my people—and I will no longer protect you as your God.
\s5
\p
\v 10 One day in the future, the people of Israel will be as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea. No one will be able to count them. I have said to Israel, 'You are not my people,'—but one day I will say to them, 'You are the people whom I will protect and love.'
\v 11 On that day I, Yahweh, will gather all the people of Judah and bring them together with all the people of Israel. They will choose from among themselves a single leader, and they will go out of that land in which they were held as exiles. On that day they will say, 'Great is the day of Jezreel!' (Jezreel means, 'God plants his people in his land.')
\s5
\c 2
\q1
\v 1 Call your male fellow Israelites, 'You are Yahweh's people,' and call your female fellow Israelites, 'Yahweh has been kind to you.'"
\s5
\q1
\v 2 Yahweh said to me, "I want you to accuse Israel, who is like a mother to you, of being like an unfaithful wife to me.
\q1 This nation is no longer like a wife to me,
\q2 and I am no longer like a husband to her.
\q1 Tell Israel that they must stop acting like a prostitute; she must stop worshiping idols.
\q2 Israel must stop worshiping idols. She must stop acting like a woman who leaves her husband and goes to other men.
\q1
\v 3 If she does not stop,
\q1 I will take her clothes off her and make her naked like she was when she was born.
\q2 I will make her like the barren wilderness—dry and lifeless;
I will make her like a woman dying from thirst in the desert.
\s5
\q1
\v 4 I will have no pity on her people, the people of Israel,
\q2 because their nation is like a prostitute.
\q1
\v 5 Israel is like a prostitute;
\q2 she is like a woman who has had these children from doing shameful things with other men.
\q1 Israel decided to hurry after these idols whom she loved, to worship other gods.
\q2 She thought that it was those gods who gave her bread and water.
\q2 She thought that it was those gods who gave her wool, linen, and olive oil, and also wine to drink.
\s5
\q1
\v 6 So I will block Israel's road with thornbushes,
\q1 and I will build a wall around her,
\q2 so that she cannot find the path to take.
\q1
\v 7 Israel will run after her idols
\q2 but she will not find them.
\q1 She will search for her false gods,
\q2 but she will not find them.
\q1 Then, like a prostitute who wants to return to her husband, she will say to me, 'I will go back to you, the one I loved at first,
\q2 because my life was better with you than it is now.'
\s5
\q1
\v 8 The people will say this, because they did not know that it was I, Yahweh, who had given them their grain, new wine, and olive oil.
\q2 It was I who had given them much silver and gold so they would become wealthy.
\q1 But then they made all that gold and silver into objects to use in worshiping the idol Baal.
\q1
\v 9 Therefore I will take away from Israel all the grain I gave them.
\q2 When the wheat is ready for harvest, I will keep them from getting it.
\q1 The new wine that I gave them, I will take it away.
\q2 I will take away from them all the wool and linen I gave them to make clothes for themselves,
\q1 the clothes that covered their nakedness.
\s5
\q1
\v 10 I will treat Israel as a man treats his wife when he finds her with other men.
\q1 I will strip her naked in front of her lovers.
\q2 No one will be able rescue her from what I will do to her.
\q1
\v 11 I will make the people in Israel stop holding their celebrations;
\q2 they will stop holding their festivals every year.
\q1 They will no longer celebrate the beginning of every month.
\q2 They will no longer celebrate the Sabbath days.
\q1 They will no longer be able to hold the festivals scheduled throughout the year.
\s5
\q1
\v 12 I will destroy all of Israel's grapevines and fig trees.
\q2 This is because Israel is like a woman who says, 'These were the things that my lovers gave me in payment.'
\q1 I, Yahweh, will turn those places into a forest, a thicket in which no vines can grow,
\q2 and where wild animals will devour any fruit that grows there.'
\q1
\v 13 I will punish this woman named Israel for all the times that she burned incense to worship the Baal idols.
\q1 She decorated herself with rings and jewelry, as a prostitute would adorn herself for her lovers.
\q2 She used to follow her lovers—like Israel has gone after the Baals—those false gods that she worshiped.
\q2 And she forgot about me." This is what Yahweh says.
\s5
\q1
\v 14 "I will lead her into the wilderness and tell her that I love her.
\q I will persuade her to love me again.
\v 15 I will give her vineyards back to her once more,
\q2 and in the Valley of Achor I will cause her to hope once more.
\q1 She will answer me with love and delight, as it was back in the first days when we first loved each other—
\q1 when I set her free, and she came up out of Egypt.
\v 18 At that time I will make a covenant for them:
\q2 it will be with all the wild animals and birds,
\q2 and even with the little animals that crawl along the ground.
\q2 They will never harm my people again.
\q1 I will promise to remove all the weapons that are used for fighting battles,
\q2 the bows and arrows, and the swords, and every war, I will take them all away and destroy all of them.
\q1 And I will let all of my people rest in peace;
\q2 they will be not be afraid anymore.
\s5
\q1
\v 19 You will be like my wife forever, Israel.
\q2 I will promise myself to you, by doing what is right, and by loving what is just.
\q2 I promise to love you and to show you kindness even when you do not deserve it.
\q1
\v 20 I will keep my promise to you, Israel. I will never lie to you;
\q2 and you will come to know me—my name is Yahweh.
\s5
\q1
\v 21 At that time,
\q2 I will help you," says Yahweh.
\q1 "I will give a command to the sky,
\q2 and the sky will pour out rain onto the ground.
\q1
\v 22 And the ground will provide grain, new wine and olive trees, and they will grow for the people of Israel.
\s5
\q1
\v 23 At that time, I will take care of the Israelite people
\q2 as a farmer plants his own land and takes care of his crops.
\q1 I will show my love to those people whom I called 'Not my People'.
\q2 And those whom I called 'Not my People',
\q1 I will now call by a new name: 'You are my People'.
\q2 They will say to me, 'You are our God.'"
\s5
\c 3
\p
\v 1 Then Yahweh said to me, "Go and love a woman, even though she is loved by another man, and she is also unfaithful to her husband. You will be like me, because I love the people of Israel, even though they worship other gods and eat raisin cakes in their honor."
\p
\v 2 Even though she was a slave, owned by another person, I bought her for 170 grams of silver, and 330 liters of barley grain.
\v 3 Then I said to her, "You will live with me from now on. You will no longer be a prostitute who sleeps with various men. You will not belong to any other man, only to me, and I will be faithful to you and live with you for the rest of my life."
\s5
\p
\v 4 When I do these things, this is to show that the people of Israel will live for a long time and not have any king ruling over them. They will have no prince, no sacrifices or pillars set up for worship, ephods or idols in their houses.
\v 5 After some time, the people of Israel will return to Yahweh; they will hope that he will receive them back. They will hope to have a descendant of David for their king again. In the later time, they will come to Yahweh to honor him and tremble before him because of his goodness to them.
\s5
\c 4
\q1
\v 1 Listen to the message Yahweh has for you.
\q2 "You people of Israel, Yahweh is accusing you, you who live in this place."
\q1 He says, "I cannot find anyone here who tells the truth.
\q2 I cannot see anyone who loves me.
\q1 None of you can honestly say that he knows me.
\q1
\v 2 You curse and lie, you kill and steal, and you commit adultery.
\q1 You have broken every law,
\q2 and you commit one murder after another.
\s5
\q1
\v 3 Because of what the people are doing, the land is now a wilderness.
\q2 Every creature that lives here is dying,
\q1 from the animals that live in the fields,
\q2 to the birds that fly in the sky;
\q1 even the fish in the sea, they are also dying.
\s5
\q1
\v 4 But you must not accuse anyone else for this trouble.
\q2 You must not allow anyone to correct another person; no one has that right, because everyone is guilty.
\q1 And I am also accusing the priests.
\v 5 You priests sin during the day
\q2 and the prophets with you sin at night.
\q1 I promise you, I will destroy Israel, who is like a mother to you.
\s5
\q2
\v 6 My people are perishing because you priests have refused to understand me.
\q1 And why do you understand me so little? Because you have rejected the things I have instructed you to do.
\q2 So I am rejecting you from being priests to me.
\q1 Look at what you have forgotten: You have forgotten the instructions that I, your God, gave to you.
\q2 Because you forgot me, I will forget your children.
\q1
\v 7 The more numerous you priests become,
\q2 the more you do the things that I have forbidden.
\q1 You have abandoned me in order to become shameful.
\s5
\q1
\v 8 When other people sin, they bring sacrifices to me, some of which you eat.
\q2 So you want the people to sin more and more.
\q1
\v 9 I will punish you priests just as I punish the people.
\q2 I will punish all of you for your behavior;
\q2 I will pay you all back for all the wicked deeds you have done.
\s5
\q1
\v 10 You all will eat, but you will never get enough. You will always be hungry.
\q2 They will continue to sleep with other women, but the women will not conceive,
\q1 because you have all abandoned me, Yahweh.
\s5
\q1
\v 11 You love to do forbidden sexual acts,
\q2 and to drink wine and new wine.
\q2 All these things have made it impossible for you to know right from wrong.
\q1
\v 12 My own people pray to an idol made from a piece of wood.
\q2 They ask their walking staffs to tell them which way they should go!
\q1 They are always wanting to sin in sexual ways, so they have stopped obeying me, the God whom they should worship.
\s5
\q2
\v 13 They worship other gods in the places on the tops of the mountains where they have set up idols. They burn offerings to the idols up on those hills—
\q1 in all the places where they worship those idols—under the oak trees, poplar trees, and the terebinth trees—
\q2 because these trees give good shade.
\q1 Following your example, your daughters decided to become prostitutes,
\q2 and your daughters-in-law committed adultery.
\q1
\v 14 But I will not punish the women for turning to prostitution,
\q1 or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery.
\q2 It is the men who are doing the very same thing!
\q1 The men sleep with prostitutes,
\q2 and they offer sacrifices in the houses of idols where there are prostitutes.
\q2 It is true: "A people who have not lived as they were taught to live, will come to destruction."
\s5
\q1
\v 15 Israel, you have left me and gone to idols.
\q1 But I hope that Judah will not do the same thing.
\q2 You people of Judah, do not go to Gilgal. Do not go up to Beth Aven to worship idols there.
\q1 Do not make solemn oaths, calling on me to make good on your promises, adding to your vows the words, 'As Yahweh lives!"
\v 16 Israel is as stubborn as a young cow.
\q2 Can I now feed them as if they were little lambs in a meadow?
\q1 It will be as when Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in battle,
\q2 when mothers were killed while they were holding their children.
\q1
\v 15 That is what will be done to you, you people of the city of Bethel,
\q2 because of all the evil things you have done.
\q1 When the battle begins at dawn,
\q2 the king of Israel will be destroyed; the enemy will kill him."
\s5
\c 11
\q1
\v 1 Yahweh says, "When the nation of Israel was like a young man, I loved him.
\q2 He was like a son to me, whom I called out of Egypt.
\q1
\v 2 But the more I called out to them,
\q2 the more they ran away.
\q1 Day after day they offered their sacrifices to the idols named Baal,
\q2 and they burned incense to honor them.
\s5
\q1
\v 3 But it was I who taught them to do everything good, as a father teaches his son to walk.
\q2 I was like a father, holding them by their little arms.
\q1 But they did not understand that I was the one who was taking care of them.
\q1
\v 4 With kindness I guided them, with the tender cords of human kindness I led them.
\q2 I loved them so much that I guided them and led by my own hand.
\q1 They worked very hard, like a yoke of oxen pulling a plow, but I made their yoke light and loosened its weight on their jaws, so they did not suffer pain.
\s5
\q1
\v 5 But Israel will certainly return to Egypt,
\q2 and Assyria will certainly rule over them,
\q1 because they refused to turn back to me and worship me as their God.
\q1
\v 6 Their enemies will attack Israel's cities with swords;
\q2 their enemies will destroy the bars that keep their gates closed and safe.
\q2 Their enemies will destroy the people of Israel and put an end to all the plans they made.
\q1
\v 7 My people are determined to turn away from me.
\q2 They pretend to call out to me, the Most High God,
\q2 but I will allow no one to help them.
\s5
\q1
\v 8 But you people of Israel—dear Israel—I cannot abandon you.
\q2 I cannot give you over to your enemies.
\q1 I do not want to act toward you as I acted toward Admah or make you like Zeboyim—
\q2 cities that I destroyed along with Sodom.
\q1 I have changed my mind about punishing you;
\q2 I earnestly long to have mercy on you.
\q1
\v 9 I have decided not to punish you severely.
\q1 I do not want to destroy you, the people of my Israel, whom I love.
\q2 Human beings would easily decide to do that,
\q2 but I am God, not human.
\q1 I am the Holy One who lives among you;
\q2 I will not come to you and be angry with you.
\s5
\q1
\v 10 They will live their lives following my commands.
\q2 I will roar like a lion.
\q1 And when I roar, my people will hear and will come trembling.
\q2 They will come back to me from far away—
\q1 from the west they will come back to me.
\q1
\v 11 They will come fluttering into the land
\q2 like a flock of birds coming up from Egypt.
\q2 And some will be like pigeons that fly in from Assyria.
\q1 I will let them live in their own homes once more, in the land of Israel.
\q2 I, Yahweh, have promised this."
\s5
\q1
\v 12 "The people of Israel have continually lied to me.
\q2 But the people of Judah they still obey me and are faithful to me, the Holy One."
\s5
\c 12
\q1
\v 1 The people of Israel do only what is useless;
\q2 they do only things that will destroy them.
\q2 They tell more and more lies; they do more and more acts of violence.
\q1 They make a treaty with Assyria,
\q2 and they send olive oil to Egypt,
\q1 to persuade those nations to protect them.
\q1
\v 2 Yahweh is also accusing the people of Judah of breaking his covenant.
\q2 He will punish those descendants of Jacob for what they have done.
\q1 He will pay them back; he will give them what they deserve.
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