Hosea Redeems His Wife

¹And the Lord said to me, x“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ²So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a yhomer and a lethech1 of barley. ³And I said to her, “You must zdwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴For the children of Israel zshall dwell many days awithout king or prince, bwithout sacrifice or cpillar, without dephod or ehousehold gods. ⁵Afterward fthe children of Israel shall return and gseek the Lord their God, and hDavid their king, iand they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the jlatter days.

The Lord Accuses Israel

¹kHear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,

for lthe Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

and mno knowledge of God in the land;

²nthere is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break all bounds, and obloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore pthe land mourns,

and all who dwell in it languish,

qand also the beasts of the field

and the birds of the heavens,

rand even the fish of the sea are taken away.

⁴sYet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is tmy contention, O priest.1

⁵You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;

and I will destroy uyour mother.

⁶My people are destroyed vfor lack of knowledge;

wbecause you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you xfrom being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

yI also will forget your children.

⁷zThe more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

aI will change their glory into shame.

⁸bThey feed on the sin2 of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

⁹cAnd it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰dThey shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to cherish ¹¹whoredom, wine, and new wine,

which etake away the understanding.

¹²My people finquire of a piece of wood,

and their walking staff gives them oracles.

For ga spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

and they have left their God to play the whore.

¹³hThey sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and burn offerings on the hills,

iunder oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

and your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

for jthe men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with kcult prostitutes,

and a people lwithout understanding shall come to ruin.

¹⁵Though you play the whore, O mIsrael,

let not mJudah become guilty.

nEnter not into oGilgal,

nor go up to pBeth-aven,

and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”

¹⁶Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?

¹⁷qEphraim is joined to idols;

rleave him alone.

¹⁸When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;

stheir rulers3 dearly love shame.

¹⁹tA wind has wrapped them4 in its wings,

and they shall ube ashamed because of their sacrifices.