Hosea 2

1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru–hamah.ss2 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.s

6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.s7 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.ss9 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.s10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.s11 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.s13 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.s15 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.ss17 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.

Hosea 3

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.s2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:s3 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:s5 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.

Hosea 4

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.s3 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.s

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.s7 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.s9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.ss10 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.ss

15 Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth–aven, 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.ss19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.