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The Word of Yahweh, which came to Hosea son of Beeri, during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel.
Gomer
This is the beginning of Yahweh's message by Hosea. He said: Go, marry a whore, and have children; for like a whore this whole land is unfaithful to Yahweh! So I went and bought Gomer, a worthless person. And she soon bore a son. Yahweh said:
Name this boy Jezreel, for in a little while
I will punish the house of Jehu, for the blood they shed
in Jezreel, and put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
On that day I will break Israel's bow,
in the valley of Jezreel.
She again became pregnant, and bore a daughter, and Yahweh said:
Name her Unloved:
For I will never again show love to Israel,
and never again forgive them.
She weaned Unloved, and bore another son. Yahweh said:
Name him Not Mine:
for you are not my children
and I am not your God.
God's Case Against Israel
Hear the Word of Yahweh, O Israel.
For Yahweh has a charge to bring
Against the people of this land.
There is no faith, no stubborn trust,
No knowledge of God in the land:
Love has dried up from the ground.
Oaths are imposed and broken: they kill and rob;
There is nothing but adultery and evil,
One deed of blood after another.
Therefore the land shall dry up
And all who live in it shall pine away;
And with them the beasts, and the birds of the air;
And the fish shall be swept from the sea.
Put the trumpet to your lips!
A vulture hovers over the sanctuary of Yahweh:
They have broken my covenant,
They have rebelled against my teaching,
And they cry to Me for help! '
We worship You, God of Israel!
But Israel is loathsome:
They shall run before the enemy.
They make kings, but not by My will;
They set up officers, without my consent;
They make themselves idols of their silver and gold.
Your calf-gods stink, Samaria!
My anger flares against them.
Long will it be before they prove innocent.
For what is this bull?
A craftsman made it.
This calf of Samaria will shatter in fragments.
The Shadow
What is that, captains of Samaria?
Look down from your watchtowers,
princes of Israel.
Every day, it grows taller, against the Aram gate.
Cold and gray
It makes no sound
The Shadow
Inches toward the top of the wall,
Every day sees it closer.
The siege-tower of Shalmaneser,
King of Assyria.
What Shall I Do?
What shall I do with you, Ephraim?
How can I deal with you, Judah?
Your hesed is like a morning cloud.
Like the dew, it goes early away.
So: I have slashed at you by My prophets,
I have attacked you with My Words.
For I want hesed and not offerings,
And the knowledge of God, instead of pious words.
When Israel was a boy, I loved him.
I called my son out of Egypt.
But the more I called, the further they went.
They sacrificed to the Baals,
They burned their children before carved idols.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I who had taken them in My arms:
But they would not notice that I harnessed them in reins,
and led them with ropes of love,
That I had lifted them like a child to My cheek,
That I had bent down to feed them.
Back they shall go to Egypt!
The Assyrian shall be their king!
For they refuse to return to Me.
The sword will swing over their bloody altars
It will end their prattling priests
And devour My people, in return for their schemes.
Bent on rebellion, they are!
Though they call on their High God,
Even then, He will not reinstate them.
The Turning
How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I abandon you, Israel?
My heart is changed within Me.
My remorse kindles already.
I will not let loose My fury,
I will not turn and destroy Ephraim;
For I am God; ' and not a man.
Israel has sown the wind, and reaped the whirlwind.
There are no heads on her standing corn; it yields no grain.
And what it does yield, strangers swallow up.
Israel is now swallowed up,
Lost among the nations,
Worthless.
O Israel you have destroyed yourself;
but in Me is your help.
I will be your King: where is any other that can save you?
Gomer Redux
Again Yahweh spoke to Hosea. Yahweh said to me:
Go again, give your love to that woman
Loved by her husband, but an adulteress;
Just as Yahweh gives His love to the people of Israel,
even though they follow other Gods.
So I returned to the market. I bought her again, for fifteen silver shekels and a bushel and a half of barley, and I said to her:
Come home, be mine,
Not offering yourself to others,
And I will be yours.
For the Israel's Children will be kept for many days without a king, without a leader, without sacrifice or sacred house, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward Israel's Children will come back; Yahweh their God will pay their price, and bring them home once more.
And the number of Israel's Children will be like the sand on the shore,
Which cannot be measured or counted.
In the place where they were named “Not Mine,”
They will be called, “Children of the Living God.”
So call your brother, “Mine.”
And your sister, “Beloved”
Plead with your mother - plead!
Is she not my wife, and I her husband?
Let her rid her face of her whoring
And her breasts of her adultery.
Return O Israel, to Yahweh your God;
For you have stumbled in your evil course.
Come with your words ready,
Come back to Yahweh.
Say to Him: “Thou who dost not endure iniquity,
Accept our plea!
For in You the fatherless, find a Father's love.”
Yahweh Speaks
I will heal their apostasy;
Of My own bounty will I love them;
For My anger is turned away from them.
I will be as dew to Israel,
That he may flower as the lily,
Strike root as the poplar,
And send green shoots as the pine.
That he may be as fair as the olive,
And fragrant as Lebanon.
Israel shall again dwell in My shadow
And grow corn in abundance;
They shall flourish like a vine
and be famous as the wine of Lebanon.
I have spoken it, and I affirm it;
I am the tree that shelters you;
to Me you owe your fruit.
Take Note
Let the wise consider these things. And let him who considers take note: For Yahweh's ways are straight; and the righteous walk in them.