There were only a few people in Israel who worshipped God in the right way at this time. There were more people in Judah who obeyed God’s rules. Israel was a strong and rich country and they could often beat other countries in war. Because of this, people from Israel met people from other countries. So they knew about other people’s gods. People forgot the rules that God gave to them at Sinai. It was a time when things were not easy in Israel. Very bad leaders killed their kings. Also, Assyria and Israel were fighting each other in 734 B.C. After that, Israel became a much smaller country. This was the beginning of the end for Israel. Then, in 722 B.C., Assyria destroyed Israel.
None of Hosea’s messages have dates. We know that Hosea wrote his messages. We do not know if Hosea spoke his messages also. Hosea 5:1 may mean that he did.
We know very little about Hosea and his family. Hosea tells us only a few things about himself. We do not know for sure if Gomer really was a prostitute. There are other difficult questions with these chapters.
To know God as a person is important to Hosea. He wanted the people’s sacrifices to really mean something to God. He wanted people to obey God. If they did that, they could know God in a true way.
1 This is the message that the Lord gave to Hosea, the son of Beeri. He gave this message during the time that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. This was during the time when Jeroboam, son of Joash, was the king of Israel. Hosea’s wife and their children
2 The Lord began to speak to Israel’s people by Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, and marry a prostitute. I want you to have children by her. The children will be like her. In the same way, my people have left me and they have loved other gods.’
3 So Hosea married a woman called Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. After this, a child began to grow in her and she gave birth to their first child, a son.
4 The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call him Jezreel. This is because I will soon punish the family of Jehu. I will hurt them because of the murders by Jehu at Jezreel. Then I will cause the end of the country called Israel.
5 And, in the Valley of Jezreel, I will at that time completely destroy the armies of Israel.’
6 Gomer had a second child. This time it was a daughter. The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call her Lo-Ruhamah. This is because I will not continue to show great love to the people in Israel. I will not forget their sins.
7 But I will show love to the people in Judah. I, the Lord, will save them. I will not do it by war. I will not use weapons. I will not use horses or people who ride horses.’
8 After Gomer gave her own milk to Lo-Ruhamah, another child began to grow in Gomer. A son was born to her.
9 Then the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call him Lo-Ammi. This is because the people in Israel are not my people. And I am not their God.’ 10 At a future time, the number of Israel’s people will be like the sand by the sea. You cannot measure the sand or count it. Now God says to them, ‘You are not my people.’ But there will be a future day when he will say to them, ‘You are the children of the living God!’
11 The people from Judah and the people from Israel will come together again. They will choose for themselves a single leader. And they will go out of a foreign country. The day of Jezreel will be an important day.
1 Then you will tell your brothers, ‘You are my people.’ And you will tell your sisters, ‘He has shown great love to you.’ The Lord speaks to the people in Israel
2 My children, argue with your mother. Tell her that she is wrong. Tell that to her because she is not my wife. And I am not her husband. Tell her that she must stop living like a prostitute. She must take away the men that she loved from between her breasts.
3 If she does not do that, I will take away all her clothes. It will be like the day when she was born. I will leave her to die. She will die because she will have no water. I will let her stay in a dry desert. 6 So I (the Lord) will put something in the way of your (Israel’s people’s) road. I will use plants that hurt. I will build a wall so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will run after the men that she loves. But she will not catch them. She will look for them, but she will not catch them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband (God). Life was better for me when I was with him. Life was better then than it is now.’ 8 ‘She (Israel) did not believe that I (the Lord) had given grain, wine and oil from trees to her. She thought that another God had given them to her. It was I who gave her plenty of silver and gold. She used this silver and gold when she wanted to worship Baal.
9 So I will take back my grain at the time when it is ready. I will take back my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my clothes and cloth. They were what should have covered the body.
10 Now I will take away her clothes. So all the men who loved her will see her. They will see her as she is. Nobody will be able to take her from my power.
11 I (God) will stop the special times when she enjoys herself. I will stop her religious holidays and the meals that she has at a new moon.
12 I will destroy her grapes and her fruit trees. She said that men loved her. These men paid her with those things. But I will change her gardens. They will become like a wild forest. Wild animals will come and they will eat from those plants.
13 I will punish her for the times that she burnt special plants to the god, Baal. I will punish her because she wore special stones. Then she could run after the men who loved her. But she forgot me.’ The Lord has said this. 14 So I (the Lord) will say words of love to her. I will lead her into the desert and I will speak kind words to her.
15 There, I will give back to her the grapes that she had. I will give her Trouble Valley. This will be a way for her to hope in me. Then she will answer me like the time that she came out of Egypt.
16 Then, at a future time, she will call me her husband. She will not call me her god, Baal again.
17 I will never let her speak the name of the god, Baal again. Then people will not use Baal’s names again.
18 At that time, I will promise to do things for Israel’s people. I will cause the animals in the fields and the birds in the sky to be their friends. I will cause the animals that move along the ground to be their friends too. I also will break the things that Israel’s people used in war. I will remove the things that men use to fight in wars. None of these things will remain in the land. My people will live in a time when people do not attack them. They will be safe.
19 I (the Lord) will make you my wife for always. 20 I will make you a wife that follows me. 21 At that time, I will answer the sky. 22 The ground will give back grain, wine and oil from trees. 23 I will plant many seeds on Israel’s land. 1 Then the Lord said to me again, ‘Show love to a woman again. Another man loves her but you must love her. She goes after other men but you must continue to love her. You must love her in the same way that the Lord loves Israel’s people. But they continue to worship other gods. And they like to offer fruit to these gods.’
2 So I bought the woman with 15 pieces of silver and 1.5 homers (about 330 litres or 9 bushels) of grain.
3 Then I told her, ‘You must stay at home with me for a long time. You must not be like a prostitute. You must not be too friendly with another man. So then I will live with you.’
4 In the same way, Israel’s people will continue to live for a long time without a king or a leader. They will not have sacrifices, or stones to help them to remember God. They will not have any ephods and they will not have any gods in their homes.
5 At a future time, Israel’s people will return. Then they will look for the Lord their God and they will look for David, their king. They will come to the Lord and they will receive his gifts. 1 People in Israel, listen to the Lord’s message! The Lord will argue against the people that live in this country. ‘People in this country do not really know God. The people are never kind to other people. And they do not do what they have promised to do.
2 They hope that bad things will happen to people. They tell people things that are not true. They kill people and they rob people. They do the sin of adultery. They kill more and more people.
3 So the people cry. And everything that lives is slowly dying. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, are dying.
4 Nobody among you should argue. And nobody among you should say that another person is wrong. You people are like people who argue with a priest.
5 You fall over during the day and during the night. And the prophets fall with you. And I will destroy your mother (Israel).
6 You are destroying my people because they do not know me. You have refused to learn. So I will refuse to let you be a priest for me. You have forgotten your God’s rules, so I will forget your children.’ 7 ‘The more priests that there are of you, the more you sin against me. So I will change the way that you are great into something else. You will not like what will happen to you.
8 The priests eat when the people sin. So the priests are happy when the people sin.
9 The priests are not different from the people. I will tell them both what they should do. They will have to change the things that they do. I will punish them for the wrong things that they did.
10 You people will eat your part of the sacrifices, but you will still be hungry. You will live like prostitutes, but you will not have babies. This is because you have turned away from me to follow other gods.’ 11 ‘My people cannot understand anything because they drink too much old wine and new wine. And they have wrong sex.
12 My people are asking a piece of wood for help. They want those sticks to tell them what they want to know! They think that those sticks can do that. That is because they have followed those false gods like prostitutes. So my people have stopped worshipping their God.
13 They give sacrifices on the tops of the mountains. They burn incense on the hills. They do this under many different kinds of trees. The shade under those trees is very nice. So your daughters become like prostitutes. Also your son’s wives do the sin of adultery.
14 Your daughters are prostitutes. Your son’s wives do the sin of adultery. But I will not punish them. I will not do it because the men, too, go to be with prostitutes. And they offer sacrifices with prostitutes. So these silly people will cause their own death.’ 15 ‘Israel’s people, you live like a prostitute. But do not let Judah’s people also do wrong things. Do not worship at Gilgal or at Beth Aven. Do not say promises there in the name of the Lord. Do not say, “As the Lord lives”.
16 Israel’s people are like a young cow. This young cow does not let you lead it. It is not possible to feed my people. A farmer takes young sheep to a field where there is much grass. I want to be kind to my people as the farmer is kind to those young sheep.
17 The people in Israel have become friends with idols. Let them go their own way.
18 After they have drunk wine, they are happy to be with prostitutes. They do not think about what people will say about them.
19 A wind will take them away. Now they cannot think any longer. Their sacrifices will cause people to think bad things about them.’ 1 ‘Listen to this, you priests! Be careful how you listen, people in Israel! Listen, you that belong to the family of kings! I (God) have decided what to do with you. You have tried to catch people at Mizpah. You were like a net on the ground at Tabor.
2 The people who will not obey me have killed very many people. So I will tell them all that they should not have done it. And I will punish them.
3 I know what the people from Ephraim are like. They cannot hide from me. They live like a prostitute and they have become very bad.
4 Israel’s people have done bad things. This makes it impossible for them to return to their God. They are like prostitutes. They do not know the Lord.
5 Israel’s people think that they are too good. This is something that has made me angry with them. Their sins cause them to fall. But Judah’s people will fall with them.
6 They take their sheep and cows to offer as sacrifices to the Lord. But it does not help them. They cannot find the Lord because he has left them.
7 They have not obeyed the Lord. Their children are not his. They have times when they enjoy themselves at the beginning of every month. But at the beginning of the month I will destroy their fields and they themselves will die.’ 8 ‘Make a noise with the horn in Gibeah! 9 The day will happen. Then I will tell them that they are wrong. 10 The leaders of Judah are like people who rob. They have robbed land. So I (God) will punish them very much because I am so angry with them.
11 Israel’s people are in trouble because people attack them. Other countries have come as judges. This is because Israel’s people wanted help from idols.
12 I (God) will destroy Israel, 13 Ephraim’s people saw that they were like a sick man. 14 I will attack Ephraim’s people like a lion. 15 At a future time, the people will see that they have done something wrong. 1 ‘Come. We should return to the Lord. 2 After two days, he will cause us to live again. 3 We should try to know the Lord. We can be sure that he will come. 4 ‘Israel’s people, I do not know what I should do with you. 5 That is why I have sent my prophets to you. 6 I will judge you because I want you to love in the right way. 7 But like Adam, the people did not obey the covenant. 8 Gilead is a city of men who do very bad things. 9 There are people who rob. They hide and they wait to attack someone. 10 Yes, I have seen many bad things in Israel. 11 People in Judah, I have made a special time for you. 1 ‘When I wanted to give health to my people, they did very many wrong things! 2 They do not know that I (God) will remember their sins. 3 The very bad things that they do make their king happy. 4 They are all bad and they do not obey me. 5 On holidays for the king, the leaders drink too much wine. 6 The people decide to do secret things. 7 They were so angry that they killed their leaders. 8 ‘Israel’s people mix themselves with people from other countries. 9 People in Israel mix themselves with foreign people. 10 Israel’s people think that they are very important. 11 Ephraim is like a silly dove (a bird), 12 When they do that, I will throw my net over them. 13 It will be very bad for them. 14 They do not pray to me from deep inside themselves. 15 I taught them and I made them strong. 16 They have returned to false gods. 1 ‘People must know about what will happen! Make sure that they do know. 2 Israel’s people shout out to me. They say, “We in Israel know you.”
3 But they refused what is good. 4 My people chose kings, but they did not ask me for help. 5 I do not like the gold bull that the people in Samaria worship. 6 A worker from Israel made that idol. 7 Israel’s people did a silly thing. 8 Israel has become like the other countries. 9 Israel’s rulers have gone to Assyria for help. 10 They will try to get friends among those countries. But I will bring Israel’s people together. 11 Israel’s people built more and more altars. 12 I gave all my rules to Israel’s people. 13 Israel’s people love sacrifices. 14 Israel’s people built houses for kings. 1 People in Israel, do not be happy at special times as the people in foreign countries do! 2 But soon you will not have enough grain or wine. 3 You will not stay in the Lord’s country. 4 Israel’s people will not be able to offer wine to the Lord. 5 Israel’s people will not be able to enjoy special days. 6 Perhaps Assyria will not destroy your country.2
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Hosea returns to his wife
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The Lord is angry with the people in Israel
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The people do not obey God
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God does not like Israel’s people because they pray to idols
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God will tell the people in Israel what they must do