1:1 The word of the Lord which 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.

1:2 The start of the word of the Lord by Hosea: And the Lord

said to Hosea, Go, take for yourself a wife of loose ways, and

children of the same, for the land has been untrue to the Lord.

1:3 So he took as his wife Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and

she gave birth to a son.

1:4 And the Lord said to him, Give him the name of Jezreel, for

after a little time I will send punishment for the blood of

Jezreel on the line of Jehu, and put an end to the kingdom of

Israel.

1:5 And in that day I will let the bow of Israel be broken in

the valley of Jezreel.

1:6 And after that she gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord

said, Give her the name Lo-ruhamah; for I will not again have

mercy on Israel, to give them forgiveness.

1:7 But I will have mercy on Judah and will give them salvation

by the Lord their God, but not by the bow or the sword or by

fighting or by horses or horsemen.

1:8 Now when Lo-ruhamah had been taken from the breast, the

woman gave birth to a son.

1:9 And the Lord said, Give him the name Lo-ammi; for you are

not my people, and I will not be your God.

1:10 But still the number of the children of Israel will be like

the sand of the sea, which may not be measured or numbered; and

in place of its being said to them, You are not my people, it

will be said to them, You are the sons of the living God

1:11 And the children of Israel and the children of Judah will

come together and take for themselves one head, and will go up

from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

2:1 Say to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

2:2 Take up the cause against your mother, take it up, for she

is not my wife, and I am not her husband; let her put away her

loose ways from her face, and her false ways from between her

breasts;

2:3 For fear that I may take away her robe from her, making her

uncovered as in the day of her birth; making her like a waste

place and a dry land, causing her death through need of water.

2:4 And I will have no mercy on her children, for they are the

children of her loose ways.

2:5 For their mother has been untrue; she who gave them birth

has done things of shame, for she said, I will go after my

lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my

linen, my oil and my wine.

2:6 For this cause I will put thorns in her road, building up a

wall round her so that she may not go on her way.

2:7 And if she goes after her lovers she will not overtake them;

if she makes search for them she will not see them; then will

she say, I will go back to my first husband, for then it was

better for me than now.

2:8 For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the

grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold

which they gave to the Baal.

2:9 So I will take away again my grain in its time and my wine,

and I will take away my wool and my linen with which her body

might have been covered.

2:10 And now I will make her shame clear before the eyes of her

lovers, and no one will take her out of my hand.

2:11 And I will put an end to all her joy, her feasts, her new

moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her regular meetings.

2:12 And I will make waste her vines and her fig-trees, of which

she has said, These are the payments which my lovers have made

to me; and I will make them a waste of trees, and the beasts of

the field will take them for food.

2:13 And I will give her punishment for the days of the Baals,

to whom she has been burning perfumes, when she made herself

fair with her nose-rings and her jewels, and went after her

lovers, giving no thought to me, says the Lord.

2:14 For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and

will say words of comfort to her.

2:15 And I will give her vine-gardens from there, and the valley

of Achor for a door of hope; and she will give her answer there

as in the days when she was young, and as in the time when she

came up out of the land of Egypt.

2:16 And in that day, says the Lord, you will say to me, Ishi;

and you will never again give me the name of Baali;

2:17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her

mouth, and never again will she say their names.

2:18 And in that day I will make an agreement for them with the

beasts of the field and the birds of heaven and the things

which go low on the earth; I will put an end to the bow and the

sword and war in all the land, and will make them take their

rest in peace.

2:19 And I will take you as my bride for ever; truly, I will

take you as my bride in righteousness and in right judging, in

love and in mercies.

2:20 I will take you as my bride in good faith, and you will

have knowledge of the Lord.

2:21 And it will be, in that day, says the Lord, that I will

give an answer to the heavens, and the heavens to the earth;

2:22 And the earth will give its answer to the grain and the

wine and the oil, and they will give an answer to Jezreel;

2:23 And I will put her as seed in the earth, and I will have

mercy on her to whom no mercy was given; and I will say to

those who were not my people, You are my people, and they will

say, My God.

3:1 And the Lord said to me, Give your love again to a woman who

has a lover and is false to her husband, even as the Lord has

love for the children of Israel, though they are turned to

other gods and are lovers of grape-cakes.

3:2 So I got her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a

homer and a half of barley;

3:3 And I said to her, You are to be mine for a long space of

time; you are not to be false to me, and no other man is to

have you for his wife; and so will I be to you.

3:4 For the children of Israel will for a long time be without

king and without ruler, without offerings and without pillars,

and without ephod or images.

3:5 And after that, the children of Israel will come back and go

in search of the Lord their God and David their king; and they

will come in fear to the Lord and to his mercies in the days to

come.

4:1 Give ear to the word of the Lord, O children of Israel; for

the Lord has a cause against the people of this land, because

there is no good faith in it, and no mercy and no knowledge of

God in the land.

4:2 There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks

on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken

into, and there is blood touching blood.

4:3 Because of this the land will be dry, and everyone living in

it will be wasted away, with the beasts of the field and the

birds of heaven; even the fishes of the sea will be taken away.

4:4 Let no man go to law or make protests, for your people are

like those who go to law with a priest.

4:5 You will not be able to keep on your feet by day, and by

night the prophet will be falling down with you, and I will

give your mother to destruction.

4:6 Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no

knowledge; because you have given up knowledge, I will give you

up, so that you will be no priest to me, because you have not

kept in mind the law of your God, I will not keep your children

in my memory.

4:7 Even while they were increasing in number they were sinning

against me; I will let their glory be changed into shame.

4:8 The sin of my people is like food to them; and their desire

is for their wrongdoing.

4:9 And the priest will be like the people; I will give them

punishment for their evil ways, and the reward of their acts.

4:10 They will have food, but they will not be full; they will

be false to me, but they will not be increased, because they no

longer give thought to the Lord.

4:11 Loose ways and new wine take away wisdom.

4:12 My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod

gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their

wandering, and they have been false to their God.

4:13 They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning

perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because

their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to

loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands.

4:14 I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides

for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate

with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used

for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who

have no wisdom will be sent away.

4:15 Do not you, O Israel, come into error; do not you, O Judah,

come to Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, or take an oath, By the

living Lord.

4:16 For Israel is uncontrolled, like a cow which may not be

controlled; now will the Lord give them food like a lamb in a

wide place.

4:17 Ephraim is joined to false gods; let him be.

4:18 Their drink has become bitter; they are completely false;

her rulers take pleasure in shame.

4:19 They are folded in the skirts of the wind; they will be

shamed because of their offerings.

5:1 Give ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and

you, family of the king; for you are to be judged; you have

been a deceit at Mizpah and a net stretched out on Tabor.

5:2 They have gone deep in the evil ways of Shittim, but I am

the judge of all.

5:3 I have knowledge of Ephraim, and Israel is not secret from

me; for now, O Ephraim, you have been false to me, Israel has

become unclean.

5:4 Their works will not let them come back to their God, for a

false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of the Lord.

5:5 And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and

Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of

Judah will be the same as theirs.

5:6 They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in search

of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself

out of their view.

5:7 They have been false to the Lord; they have given birth to

strange children; now the new moon will make them waste with

their fields.

5:8 Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud

cry in Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin.

5:9 Ephraim will become a waste in the day of punishment; I have

given knowledge among the tribes of Israel of what is certain.

5:10 The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a

landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water.

5:11 Ephraim is troubled; he is crushed by his judges, because

he took pleasure in walking after deceit.

5:12 And so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect, and a

destruction to the children of Judah.

5:13 When Ephraim saw his disease and Judah his wound, then

Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king; but he is

not able to make you well or give you help for your wound.

5:14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to

the children of Judah; I, even I, will give him wounds and go

away; I will take him away, and there will be no helper.

5:15 I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in

their trouble they will go after me early and will make search

for me.

6:1 Come, let us go back to the Lord; for he has given us wounds

and he will make us well; he has given blows and he will give

help.

6:2 After two days he will give us life, and on the third day he

will make us get up, and we will be living before him.

6:3 And let us have knowledge, let us go after the knowledge of

the Lord; his going out is certain as the dawn, his decisions

go out like the light; he will come to us like the rain, like

the spring rain watering the earth.

6:4 O Ephraim, what am I to do to you? O Judah, what am I to do

to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew

which goes early away.

6:5 So I have had it cut in stones; I gave them teaching by the

words of my mouth;

6:6 Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the

knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

6:7 But like a man, they have gone against the agreement; there

they were false to me.

6:8 Gilead is a town of evil-doers, marked with blood.

6:9 And like a band of thieves waiting for a man, so are the

priests watching secretly the way of those going quickly to

Shechem, for they are working with an evil design.

6:10 In Israel I have seen a very evil thing; there false ways

are seen in Ephraim, Israel is unclean;

6:11 And Judah has put up disgusting images for himself.

7:1 When my desire was for the fate of my people to be changed

and to make Israel well, then the sin of Ephraim was made

clear, and the evil-doing of Samaria; for their ways are false,

and the thief comes into the house, while the band of outlaws

takes property by force in the streets.

7:2 And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all

their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side;

they are before my face.

7:3 In their sin they make a king for themselves, and rulers in

their deceit.

7:4 They are all untrue; they are like a burning oven; the

bread-maker does not make up the fire from the time when the

paste is mixed till it is leavened.

7:5 On the day of our king, the rulers made him ill with the

heat of wine; his hand was stretched out with the men of pride.

7:6 For they have made their hearts ready like an oven, while

they are waiting secretly; their wrath is sleeping all night;

in the morning it is burning like a flaming fire.

7:7 They are all heated like an oven, and they put an end to

their judges; all their kings have been made low; not one among

them makes prayer to me.

7:8 Ephraim is mixed with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not

turned.

7:9 Men from other lands have made waste his strength, and he is

not conscious of it; grey hairs have come on him here and

there, and he has no knowledge of it.

7:10 And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; but

for all this, they have not gone back to the Lord their God, or

made search for him.

7:11 And Ephraim is like a foolish dove, without wisdom; they

send out their cry to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

7:12 When they go, my net will be stretched out over them; I

will take them like the birds of heaven, I will give them

punishment, I will take them away in the net for their sin.

7:13 May trouble be theirs! for they have gone far away from me;

and destruction, for they have been sinning against me; I was

ready to be their saviour, but they said false words against

me.

7:14 And they have not made prayer to me in their hearts, but

they make loud cries on their beds; they are cutting themselves

for food and wine, they are turned against me.

7:15 Though I have given training and strength to their arms,

they have evil designs against me.

7:16 They have gone to what is of no value; they are like a

false bow; their captains will come to destruction by the

sword, and their ruler by my wrath; for this, the land of Egypt

will make sport of them.

8:1 Put the horn to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against

the house of the Lord; because they have gone against my

agreement, they have not kept my law.

8:2 They will send up to me a cry for help: We, Israel, have

knowledge of you, O God of Israel.

8:3 Israel has given up what is good; his haters will go after

him.

8:4 They have put up kings, but not by me; they have made

princes, but I had no knowledge of it; they have made images of

silver and gold, so that they may be cut off.

8:5 I will have nothing to do with your young ox, O Samaria; my

wrath is burning against them; how long will it be before the

children of Israel make themselves clean?

8:6 The workman made it, it is no god; the ox of Samaria will be

broken into bits.

8:7 For they have been planting the wind, and their fruit will

be the storm; his grain has no stem, it will give no meal, and

if it does, a strange nation will take it.

8:8 Israel has come to destruction; now they are among the

nations like a cup in which there is no pleasure.

8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria like an ass going by

himself; Ephraim has given money to get lovers.

8:10 But though they give money to the nations for help, still I

will send them in all directions; and in a short time they will

be without a king and rulers.

8:11 Because Ephraim has been increasing altars for sin, altars

have become a cause of sin to him.

8:12 Though I put my law in writing for him in ten thousand

rules, they are to him as a strange thing.

8:13 He gives the offerings of his lovers, and takes the flesh

for food; but the Lord has no pleasure in them; now he will

keep in mind their evil-doing and give them the punishment of

their sins; they will go back to Egypt.

8:14 For Israel has no memory of his Maker, and has put up the

houses of kings; and Judah has made great the number of his

walled towns. But I will send a fire on his towns and put an

end to his great houses.

9:1 Have no joy, O Israel, and do not be glad like the nations;

for you have been untrue to your God; your desire has been for

the loose woman's reward on every grain-floor.

9:2 The grain-floor and the place where the grapes are crushed

will not give them food; there will be no new wine for them.

9:3 They will have no resting-place in the Lord's land, but

Ephraim will go back to Egypt, and they will take unclean food

in Assyria.

9:4 They will give no wine offering to the Lord, they will not

make offerings ready for him; their bread will be like the

bread of those in sorrow; all who take it will be unclean,

because their bread will be only for their desire, it will not

come into the house of the Lord.

9:5 What will you do on the day of worship, and on the day of

the feast of the Lord?

9:6 For see, they are going away into Assyria; Egypt will get

them together, Memphis will be their last resting-place; their

fair silver vessels will be covered over with field plants, and

thorns will come up in their tents.

9:7 The days of punishment, the days of reward are come; Israel

will be put to shame; the prophet is foolish, the man who has

the spirit is off his head, because of your great sin.

9:8 There is great hate against the watchman of Ephraim, the

people of my God; as for the prophet, there is a net in all his

ways, and hate in the house of his God.

9:9 They have gone deep in evil as in the days of Gibeah; he

will keep in mind their wrongdoing, he will give them

punishment for their sins.

9:10 I made discovery of Israel as of grapes in the waste land;

I saw your fathers as the first-fruits of the fig-tree in her

early fruit time; but they came to Baal-peor, and made

themselves holy to the thing of shame, and became disgusting

like that to which they gave their love.

9:11 As for Ephraim, their glory will go in flight like a bird:

there will be no birth and no one with child and no giving of

life.

9:12 Even though their children have come to growth I will take

them away, so that not a man will be there; for their

evil-doing will be complete and they will be put to shame

because of it.

9:13 As I have seen a beast whose young have been taken from

her, so Ephraim will give birth to children only for them to be

put to death.

9:14 O Lord, what will you give them? Give them bodies which may

not give birth and breasts without milk.

9:15 All their evil-doing is in Gilgal; there I had hate for

them; because of their evil-doing I will send them out of my

house; they will no longer be dear to me; all their rulers are

uncontrolled.

9:16 The rod has come on Ephraim, their root is dry, let them

have no fruit; even though they give birth, I will put to death

the dearest fruit of their bodies.

9:17 My God will give them up because they did not give ear to

him; they will be wandering among the nations.

10:1 Israel is a branching vine, full of fruit; as his fruit is

increased, so the number of his altars is increased; as the

land is fair, so they have made fair pillars.

10:2 Their mind is taken away; now they will be made waste: he

will have their altars broken down, he will give their pillars

to destruction.

10:3 Now, truly, they will say, We have no king, we have no fear

of the Lord; and the king, what is he able to do for us?

10:4 Their words are foolish; they make agreements with false

oaths, so punishment will come up like a poison-plant in a

ploughed field.

10:5 The people of Samaria will be full of fear because of the

ox of Beth-aven; its people will have sorrow for it, and its

priests will give cries of grief for its glory, for the glory

has gone in flight.

10:6 And they will take it to Assyria and give it to the great

king; shame will come on Ephraim, and Israel will be shamed

because of its image.

10:7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off, like mist on the

water.

10:8 And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will come

to destruction; thorns and waste plants will come up on their

altars; they will say to the mountains, Be a cover over us; and

to the hills, Come down on us.

10:9 O Israel, you have done evil from the days of Gibeah; there

they took up their position, so that the fighting against the

children of evil might not overtake them in Gibeah.

10:10 I will come and give them punishment; and the peoples will

come together against them when I give them the reward of their

two sins.

10:11 And Ephraim is a trained cow, taking pleasure in crushing

the grain; but I have put a yoke on her fair neck; I will put a

horseman on the back of Ephraim; Judah will be working the

plough, Jacob will be turning up the earth.

10:12 Put in the seed of righteousness, get in your grain in

mercy, let your unploughed earth be turned up: for it is time

to make search for the Lord, till he comes and sends

righteousness on you like rain.

10:13 You have been ploughing sin, you have got in a store of

evil, the fruit of deceit has been your food: for you put faith

in your way, in the number of your men of war.

10:14 So a great outcry will go up from among your people, and

all your strong places will be broken, as Beth-arbel was broken

by Shalman in the day of war, as the mother was broken on the

rocks with her children.

10:15 So will Beth-el do to you because of your evil-doing; at

dawn will the king of Israel be cut off completely.

11:1 When Israel was a child he was dear to me; and I took my

son out of Egypt.

11:2 When I sent for them, then they went away from me; they

made offerings to the Baals, burning perfumes to images.

11:3 But I was guiding Ephraim's footsteps; I took them up in my

arms, but they were not conscious that I was ready to make them

well.

11:4 I made them come after me with the cords of a man, with the

bands of love; I was to them as one who took the yoke from off

their mouths, putting meat before them.

11:5 He will go back to the land of Egypt and the Assyrian will

be his king, because they would not come back to me.

11:6 And the sword will go through his towns, wasting his

children and causing destruction because of their evil designs.

11:7 My people are given up to sinning against me; though their

voice goes up on high, no one will be lifting them up.

11:8 How may I give you up, O Ephraim? how may I be your

saviour, O Israel? how may I make you like Admah? how may I do

to you as I did to Zeboim? My heart is turned in me, it is soft

with pity.

11:9 I will not put into effect the heat of my wrath; I will not

again send destruction on Ephraim; for I am God and not man,

the Holy One among you; I will not put an end to you.

11:10 They will go after the Lord; his cry will be like that of

a lion; his cry will be loud, and the children will come from

the west, shaking with fear;

11:11 Shaking with fear like a bird, they will come out of

Egypt, like a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will give

them rest in their houses, says the Lord.

11:12 The deceit of Ephraim and the false words of Israel are

about me on every side. ...

12:1 Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east

wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they

make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.

12:2 The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give

punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward

of his acts.

12:3 In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot,

and in his strength he was fighting with God;

12:4 He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made

request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face

with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;

12:5 Even the Lord, the God of armies; the Lord is his name.

12:6 So then, come back to your God; keep mercy and right, and

be waiting at all times on your God.

12:7 As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he

takes pleasure in twisted ways.

12:8 And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property;

in all my works no sin may be seen in me.

12:9 But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will

give you tents for your living-places again as in the days of

the holy meeting.

12:10 My word came to the ears of the prophets and I gave them

visions in great number, and by the mouths of the prophets I

made use of comparisons.

12:11 In Gilead there is evil. They are quite without value; in

Gilgal they make offerings of oxen; truly their altars are like

masses of stones in the hollows of a ploughed field.

12:12 And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and

Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept

sheep.

12:13 And by a prophet the Lord made Israel come up out of

Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept safe.

12:14 I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that

his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come

back on him.

13:1 When the words of my law came from Ephraim, he was lifted

up in Israel; but when he did evil through the Baal, death

overtook him.

13:2 And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves

a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their

designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of

them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen.

13:3 So they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew which

goes early away, like the dust of the grain which the wind is

driving out of the crushing-floor, like smoke going up from the

fireplace.

13:4 But I am the Lord your God, from the land of Egypt; you

have knowledge of no other God and there is no saviour but me.

13:5 I had knowledge of you in the waste land where no water

was.

13:6 When I gave them food they were full, and their hearts were

full of pride, and they did not keep me in mind.

13:7 So I will be like a lion to them; as a cruel beast I will

keep watch by the road;

13:8 I will come face to face with them like a bear whose young

ones have been taken from her, and their inmost hearts will be

broken; there the dogs will make a meal of them; they will be

wounded by the beasts of the field.

13:9 I have sent destruction on you, O Israel; who will be your

helper?

13:10 Where is your king, that he may be your saviour? and all

your rulers, that they may take up your cause? of whom you

said, Give me a king and rulers.

13:11 I have given you a king, because I was angry, and have

taken him away in my wrath.

13:12 The wrongdoing of Ephraim is shut up; his sin is put away

in secret.

13:13 The pains of a woman in childbirth will come on him: he is

an unwise son, for at this time it is not right for him to keep

his place when children come to birth.

13:14 I will give the price to make them free from the power of

the underworld, I will be their saviour from death: O death!

where are your pains? O underworld! where is your destruction?

my eyes will have no pity.

13:15 Though he gives fruit among his brothers, an east wind

will come, the wind of the Lord coming up from the waste land,

and his spring will become dry, his fountain will be without

water: it will make waste the store of all the vessels of his

desire.

13:16 Samaria will be made waste, for she has gone against her

God: they will be cut down by the sword, their little children

will be broken on the rocks, their women who are with child

will be cut open.

14:1 O Israel, come back to the Lord your God; for your

evil-doing has been the cause of your fall.

14:2 Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him,

Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may

take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips.

14:3 Assyria will not be our salvation; we will not go on

horses; we will not again say to the work of our hands, You are

our gods; for in you there is mercy for the child who has no

father.

14:4 I will put right their errors; freely will my love be given

to them, for my wrath is turned away from him.

14:5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he will put out flowers

like a lily, and send out his roots like Lebanon.

14:6 His branches will be stretched out, he will be beautiful as

the olive-tree and sweet-smelling as Lebanon.

14:7 They will come back and have rest in his shade; their life

will be made new like the grain, and they will put out flowers

like the vine; his name will be like the wine of Lebanon.

14:8 As for Ephraim, what has he to do with false gods any

longer? I have given an answer and I will keep watch over him;

I am like a branching fir-tree, from me comes your fruit.

14:9 He who is wise will see these things; he who has good sense

will have knowledge of them. For the ways of the Lord are

straight, and the upright will go in them, but sinners will be

falling in them.