Hosea

1 The word of YHVH 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. 2 The beginning of the word of YHVH by Hosea. And YHVH said to Hosea: Go, take to you a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land has committed great whoredom, departing from YHVH. 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; who conceived, and bare him a son. 4 And YHVH said to 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 Elohim said to 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 YHVH 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 shall be as the sand of the sea, who cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said to them that you are not My people, there it shall be said to them: You are the sons of the Living Elohim! 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 to 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 has played the harlot; she who conceived them has done shamefully. For she said: I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. 6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your 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 grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. 9 Therefore, I will return, and take away My grain in its time, and My wine in its season, and will recover My wool and flax, given to cover her nakedness. 10 And now I will reveal her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of My 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 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 forgot me, says YHVH! 14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her. 15 And I will give her vineyards from there, 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, says YHVH, that you shall call me My Husband (Ishi); and shall call Me no more Baalim. 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 I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds 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 to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know YHVH. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, said YHVH, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. 22 And the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. 23 And I will sow her to Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her who had not obtained mercy; and I will say to those who were not My people: You are My people! And they shall say: You are my Elohim!

1 Then YHVH said to me: Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of YHVH 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 a homer of barley, and a half homer of barley. 3 And I said to her: You shall abide for me many days; you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man; so I will also be for you. 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 YHVH their Elohim, and David their king; and shall fear YHVH and His goodness in the latter days.

1 Hear the word of YHVH, you children of Israel, for YHVH 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 shall the land mourn, and everyone who dwells there shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven; yes, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another, for your people are as those who strive with the priest. 5 Therefore you shall fall in the day, and the prophet also shall 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 shall be no priest to Me. Seeing that 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, I will 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 unto YHVH. 11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. 12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares to 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 its shadow 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 they themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots. Therefore, the people who do not understand shall fall. 15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, YHVH lives. 16 For Israel slides back as a backsliding heifer; now YHVH 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 dishonor show affection, Give. 19 The wind has bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

1 Hear this, O priests; and hearken, you house of Israel; and give 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 rebuking them all. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you commit whoredom, and Israel is defiled. 4 They will not frame their doings to turn to their Elohim, for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known YHVH. 5 And the pride of Israel testifies 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 YHVH; but they shall not find Him, for He has withdrawn Himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against YHVH, for they have begotten strange children; now a month shall devour them with their portions. 8 Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah; cry aloud at Bethaven, after you, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel I have made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of Judah were like those who 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, I will be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; yet he could not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be to 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 offense, and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me early.

1 Come, and let us return to YHVH, 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 shall live in His sight. 3 Then we shall know, if we follow on to know YHVH; His going forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to the earth. 4 O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away. 5 Therefore I have hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and your judgments are as the light that goes 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; they have dealt treacherously against Me. 8 Gilead is a city of those who 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 a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11 Also, O Judah, he has set a harvest for you, when I returned the prisoners 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 comes in, and the troop of robbers spoils outside. 2 And they do not consider 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, which ceases 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, while they lie in wait; their Ephraim sleeps all the night; in the morning it burns 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 those who calls to me. 8 Ephraim, he has mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knows it not; yes, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knows not. 10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, and they do not return unto YHVH 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 shall go, I will spread My net upon them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard. 13 Woe to them! for they have fled from me; destruction to 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 to me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for grain and wine, and they rebel against me. 15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet 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.

1 Set the shophar to your mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of YHVH, because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law. 2 Israel shall cry to Me: My Elohim we know You! 3 Israel has cast off the thing that is good; the enemy shall 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 they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off. 5 Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; My anger is kindled against them; how long will it be ere they attain to innocence? 6 For from Israel was it also; the workman made it; therefore it is not Elohim, but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. 7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind; it has no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up; now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. 9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey alone by himself; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. 11 Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be to 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 My offerings, and eat it; but YHVH accepts them not; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples; and Judah has multiplied fenced cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces.

1 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 grain floor. 2 The floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. 3 They shall not dwell in Elohim's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. 4 They shall not offer wine offerings to YHVH, neither shall they be pleasing; their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners; all who eat of it shall be polluted, for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of YHVH. 5 What will you do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of YHVH? 6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction; Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tabernacles. 7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it; the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of your 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 first ripe in the fig tree at her first time; but they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves to that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. 11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. 12 Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, that there shall not be a man left; yes, woe also to them when I depart from them! 13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. 14 Give them, O YHVH; 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 My house, I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters. 16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yes, though they bring forth, yet I will slay even the beloved fruit of their womb. 17 My Elohim will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

1 Israel is an empty vine, he brings forth fruit to 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 they shall be found faulty; he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images. 3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we have not feared YHVH; what then should a king do to us? 4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. 5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven; for its people shall mourn over it, and its priests who rejoiced on it, for its glory, because it is departed from it. 6 It shall be also carried to Assyria for a present to king Jareb; Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall 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, shall be destroyed; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall 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 shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. 11 And Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught, and loves to tread out the grain; but I passed over upon her fair neck; I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. 12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek YHVH, until He comes and rains 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 shall a tumult arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle; the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. 15 So shall Bethel do to you because of your great wickedness; in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

1 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 to Baalim and burned incense to graven images. 3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by My 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 those who take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid food to them. 5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return. 6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels. 7 My people are bent to backsliding from Me; though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt Him. 8 How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart is turned within Me; My repenting is kindled together. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My 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 shall walk after YHVH! He shall roar like a lion; when He shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. 11 They shall 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 YHVH. 12 Ephraim compasses me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah yet rules with Elohim, and is faithful with the saints.

1 Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind; he daily increases lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. 2 YHVH 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. (Gen 32:28) 4 Yes, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to Him; he found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke with us. 5 Even Adonai, Elohim of Hosts: YHVH is His memorial. 6 Therefore turn 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 labors they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin. 9 And I, who am Adonai 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 similitude's, by the ministry of the prophets. 11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity; they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yes, 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 YHVH brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. 14 Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly; therefore he shall leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Adonai return to him.

1 When Ephraim spoke with humility, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. 2 And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen; they say of them to let the men who sacrifice, kiss the calves. 3 Therefore, they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes 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 Adonai your Elohim from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no gods but Me, for there is no Savior beside Me! 5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6 According to their pasture, so they were filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore they have forgotten Me. 7 Therefore I will be to them as a lion; as a leopard by the way I will observe them; 8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the enclosure of their heart, and there I will devour them like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them. 9 O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but your help is in Me! 10 I will be your King; where is any other who may save you in all your cities? And your judges of whom you said: Give me a king and princes? 11 I gave you a king in My 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 shall 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 Sheol, I will be your destruction; repentance shall be hid from My eyes. 15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of YHVH shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. 16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she has rebelled against her Elohim; they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

1 O Israel, return to Adonai your Elohim, for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2 Take with you words, and turn unto YHVH! Say unto Him: Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips. 3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say anymore to the work of our hands that you are our gods, for in you the fatherless finds mercy. 4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for My anger is turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and grow as the vine; its scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim shall say: What have I to do anymore 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 shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of YHVH are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall. (Back)