THE BOOK OF HOSEA
King James Version
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 Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
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 Israel.
5
And it shall 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 God said unto him, Call her name
Loruhamah: 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 the
LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by
horses, nor by horsemen.
8 ¶ Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and
bare a son.
9 Then said God,
Call his name Loammi: 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,
Ruhamah.
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 Bethaven, 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 Bethaven, 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 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 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.