THE BOOK OF HOSEA
CHAPTER 1
THE word of Yahowah that came unto 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.
2 The beginning of the word of Yahowah by Hosea. And Yahowah said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land has committed great whoredom, departing from Yahowah.
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
4 And Yahowah 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 Israel.
5 And it will come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And Elohim said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahowah their Elohim, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
8 Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9 Then said Elohim, Call his name Lo-ammi: for You are not my people, and I will not be your Elohim.
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people, there it will be said unto them, You are the sons of the living Elohim.
11 Then will the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they will come up out of the land: for great will be the day of Jezreel.
CHAPTER 2
SAY You 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 has played the harlot: she that conceived them has 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 Your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she will not find her paths.
7 And she will follow after her lovers, but she will not overtake them; and she will seek them, but will not find them: then will 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 will 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 has said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will 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, says Yahowah.
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 will 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 will be at that day, says Yahowah, that you will call me Ishi; and will call me no more Baali.
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they will 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 you unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth you unto me in faithfulness: and you will know Yahowah.
21 And it will come to pass in that day, I will hear, says Yahowah, I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth;
22 And the earth will hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they will 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, You are my people; and they will say, You are my Elohim.
CHAPTER 3
THEN said Yahowah unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of Yahowah 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, You will abide for me many days; you will not play the harlot, and you will not be for another man: so will I also be for you.
4 For the children of Israel will 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 will the children of Israel return, and seek Yahowah their Elohim, and David their king; and will fear Yahowah and his goodness in the latter days.
CHAPTER 4
HEAR the word of Yahowah, You children of Israel: for Yahowah has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of Elohim in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.
3 Therefore will the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein will languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also will be taken away.
4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for Your people are as they that strive with the priest.
5 Therefore will you fall in the day, and the prophet also will fall with you in the night, and I will destroy Your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you will be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of Your Elohim, I will also forget Your 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 will be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
10 For they will eat, and not have enough: they will commit whoredom, and will not increase: because they have left off to take heed to Yahowah.
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 has caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their Elohim.
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 will commit whoredom, and your spouses will 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 does not understand will fall.
15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not You unto Gilgal, neither go You up to Beth-aven, nor swear, Yahowah liveth.
16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now Yahowah 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 You.
19 The wind has bound her up in her wings, and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
CHAPTER 5
HEAR You this, O priests; and hearken, You house of Israel; and give You ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because You 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, you committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their Elohim: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known Yahowah.
5 And the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore will Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also will fall with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahowah; but they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against Yahowah: for they have begotten strange children: now will a month devour them with their portions.
8 Blow You the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after you, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which will 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 will 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.
CHAPTER 6
COME, and let us return unto Yahowah: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has 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 will live in his sight.
3 Then will we know, if we follow on to know Yahowah: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what will I do unto you? O Judah, what will I do unto you? 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 Your judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of Elohim 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 has set an harvest for you, when I returned the captivity of my people.
CHAPTER 7
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 has kneaded 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 has 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 Yahowah their Elohim, 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 will 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 has 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 will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
CHAPTER 8
SET the trumpet to Your mouth. He will come as an eagle against the house of Yahowah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
2 Israel will cry unto me, My Elohim, we know you.
3 Israel has cast off the thing that is good: the enemy will 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, has cast you 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 Elohim: but the calf of Samaria will be broken in pieces.
7 For they have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind: it has no stalk: the bud will yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers will swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up: now will 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 has hired lovers.
10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they will sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
11 Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars will 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 Yahowah accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they will return to Egypt.
14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah has multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it will devour the palaces thereof.
CHAPTER 9
REJOICE not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for you have gone a whoring from Your Elohim, you have loved a reward upon every cornfloor.
2 The floor and the winepress will not feed them, and the new wine will fail in her.
3 They will not dwell in Yahowah’s land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean things in Assyria.
4 They will not offer wine offerings to Yahowah, neither will they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices will be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof will be polluted: for their bread for their soul will not come into the house of Yahowah.
5 What will You do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of Yahowah?
6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles will possess them: thorns will be in their tabernacles.
7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel will know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of yours iniquity, and the great hatred.
8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my Elohim: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his Elohim.
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 will 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 will 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 will bring forth his children to the murderer.
14 Give them, O Yahowah: what will you 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 will bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
17 My Elohim will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they will be wanderers among the nations.
CHAPTER 10
ISRAEL is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he has increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
2 Their heart is divided; now will they be found faulty: he will break down their altars, he will spoil their images.
3 For now they will say, We have no king, because we feared not Yahowah; 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 will fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof will mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
6 It will be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will 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, will be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars; and they will say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 O Israel, you have 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 will be gathered against them, when they will bind themselves in their two furrows.
11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loves to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah will plow, and Jacob will break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Yahowah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness, You have reaped iniquity; You have eaten the fruit of lies: because you did trust in Your way, in the multitude of Your mighty men.
14 Therefore will a tumult arise among Your people, and all Your fortresses will be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
15 So will Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning will the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
CHAPTER 11
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 will not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian will be his king, because they refused to return.
6 And the sword will abide on his cities, and will 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 will I give you up, Ephraim? how will I deliver you, Israel? how will I make you as Admah? how will I set you 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 Elohim, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you: and I will not enter into the city.
10 They will walk after Yahowah: he will roar like a lion: when he will roar, then the children will tremble from the west.
11 They will 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, says Yahowah.
12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with Elohim, and is faithful with the saints.
CHAPTER 12
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 Yahowah has 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 Elohim:
4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spoke with us;
5 Even Adonai Yahowah of hosts; Yahowah is his memorial.
6 Therefore turn you to Your Elohim: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on Your Elohim continually.
7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they will find none iniquity in me that were sin.
9 And I that am Yahowah Your Elohim from the land of Egypt will yet make you 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 Yahowah brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore will he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach will his Yahowah return unto him.
CHAPTER 13
WHEN Ephraim spoke 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 will 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 Yahowah Your Elohim from the land of Egypt, and you will know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
5 I did know you 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 will tear them.
9 O Israel, you have destroyed thyself; but in me is yours help.
10 I will be Your king: where is any other that may save you in all Your cities? and Your judges of whom you saidst, Give me a king and princes?
11 I gave you 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 will 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 Your plagues; O grave, I will be Your destruction: repentance will be hid from mine eyes.
15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind will come, the wind of Yahowah will come up from the wilderness, and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up: he will spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.
16 Samaria will become desolate; for she has rebelled against her Elohim: they will fall by the sword: their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their women with child will be ripped up.
CHAPTER 14
O ISRAEL, return unto Yahowah Your Elohim; for you have fallen by yours iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to Yahowah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
3 Asshur will not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, You are our gods: for in you the fatherless finds 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 Israel: he will grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread, and his beauty will be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow will return; they will revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof will be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim will 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 Your fruit found.
9 Who is wise, and he will understand these things? prudent, and he will know them? for the ways of Yahowah are right, and the just will walk in them: but the transgressors will fall therein.