This is the word of the Lord which was revealed to Hosea son of Beeri during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash ruled Israel.

When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him:

Go and marry a promiscuous wife
and have children of promiscuity,
for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity
by abandoning the Lord.

Despite this, the number of the people of Israel will be like ocean sand, which can neither be measured nor counted. And the time will come when instead of it being said, "You are not my people,' it will be said, "You are children of the living God.'

Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her way with thorns;
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths.

For this I will turn back and take away my grain in its time, and my new wine in its appointment, and I took away my wool and my linen to cover her nakedness.

And I will punish her for the days of the Baals
when she burned incense to them,
put on her rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but forgot Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and will say words of comfort to her.

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.

For this shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

On the headlands of the mountains, they sacrifice, and, on the hills, burn they incense, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because, pleasant, is the shade thereof: For this cause, do your daughters, become unchaste, and, your brides, commit adultery.

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.

This is why I have used the prophets
to cut them down;
I have killed them with the words of My mouth.
My judgment strikes like lightning.

"But like Adam, they broke the covenant; in this they have acted deceitfully against me.

Even so goeth it this day with our kings and princes, for they begin to be wood drunken through wine: they use familiarity with such as deceive them.

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.

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.

For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

The days of punishment have come,
The days of retribution have come;
Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a fool,
The inspired man is demented,
Because of the grossness of your iniquity,
And because your hostility is so great.

They will be roused like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria.
Then I will settle them in their homes.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

For this they shall be as the cloud of the morning, and as the early dew going way; as the chaff will be driven from the threshing-floor on the wind, and as the smoke from the chimney.

Whenever they were pastured, then were they satisfied, They were satisfied, and their heart, was lifted up, - because of this, they forgat me.

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.