Hos 1-3 | ESV | STEP | The word of the Lord that came to Hosea , the son of Beeri , in the days of Uzziah , Jotham , Ahaz , and Hezekiah , kings of Judah , and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash , king of Israel .

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, ^ain the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of ^bJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ^c“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have ^dchildren of whoredom, for ^ethe land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while ^fI will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and ^gI will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day ^hI will break the bow of Israel ⁱin the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, ^j“Call her name No Mercy, ^{▼▼Hebrew Lo-ruhama, which means she has not received mercy} for ^lI will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But ^mI will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I ⁿwill not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, ^o“Call his name Not My People, ^{▼▼Hebrew Lo-ammi, which means not my people} for ^qyou are not my people, and I am not your God.” ^{▼▼Hebrew I am not yours}

10 ^{▼▼Ch 2:1 in Hebrew} Yet ^tthe number of the children of Israel shall be ^ulike the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. ^vAnd ^win the place where it was said to them, ^x“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, ^y“Children ^{▼▼Or Sons} of ^aathe living God.” 11 And ^abthe children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and ^acthey shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Hosea 2

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

1 ^{▼▼Ch 2:3 in Hebrew} Say to your brothers, ^ae“You are my people,” ^{▼▼Hebrew ammi, which means my people} and to your sisters, ^ag“You have received mercy.” ^{▼▼Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy}

2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for ^aishe is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away ^ajher whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest ^akI strip her naked
and make her as ^alin the day she was born,
and ^ammake her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 ^anUpon her children also I will have no mercy,
^aobecause they are children of whoredom.
5 For ^aptheir mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For ^aqshe said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who ^argive me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore ^asI will hedge up her ^{▼▼Hebrew your} way with thorns,
and ^auI will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
^avThen she shall say,
‘I will go and return to ^awmy first husband,
^axfor it was better for me then than now.’
8 And ^ayshe did not know
that it was ^azI who gave her
^bathe grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on ^bbher silver and gold,
^bcwhich they used for Baal.
9 Therefore ^bdI will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and ^beI will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now ^bfI will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 ^bgAnd I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her ^bhnew moons, her ^biSabbaths,
and all her ^bjappointed feasts.
12 And ^bkI will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
^blof which she said,
‘These are ^bmmy wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
^bnand the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And ^boI will punish her for ^bpthe feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and ^bqadorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.

The Lord’s Mercy on Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and ^brbring her into the wilderness,
and ^bsspeak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor ^{▼▼ Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26} a door of hope.
And there she shall answer ^buas in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And ^bvin that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For ^bwI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And ^bxI will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And ^byI will abolish ^{▼▼Hebrew break} the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in ^casafety. 19 And I will betroth you to me ^cbforever. ^ccI will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 ^cdI will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And ^ceyou shall know the Lord.

21 “And ^cfin that day ^cgI will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer ^chJezreel, ^{▼▼ Jezreel means God will sow}
23 and ^cjI will sow her for myself in the land.
And ^ckI ^clwill have mercy on No Mercy, ^{▼▼Hebrew Lo-ruhama}
and ^cnI will say to Not My People, ^{▼▼Hebrew Lo-ammi} ^cp‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Hosea 3

Hosea Redeems His Wife

1 And the Lord said to me, ^cq“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a ^crhomer and a lethech ^{▼▼A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; a lethech was about 3 bushels or 110 liters} of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must ^ctdwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel ^cushall dwell many days ^cvwithout king or prince, ^cwwithout sacrifice or ^cxpillar, without ^cyephod or ^czhousehold gods. 5 Afterward ^dathe children of Israel shall return and ^dbseek the Lord their God, and ^dcDavid their king, ^ddand they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the ^delatter days.