Hosea

Hosea charged Israel (Ephraim) with:

• violating basic covenant requirements of faithfulness and kindness, rejecting knowledge of God and His law.
• become self satisfied and proud and had forgotten God’s grace.
• engaging in idolatry.
• trusting in human devices (kings, princes, and foreign covenants) rather than God.

Hosea is the perfect parallel between God and Israel, and Hosea and his wife.

Both were loving husbands of unfaithful wives.

Like a marriage partner, God is deeply involved in our lives and is pained when we go our own way.  He demands love and loyalty from His own.  We have failed to demonstrate this yet He stands ready to forgive and restore those who turn to Him in repentance.  In buying Gomer’s freedom, Hosea pointed ahead to God’s love perfectly expressed in Christ, who bought the freedom of His bride, the church, with His own life.

Ephraim is mentioned 37 times in Hosea.

Chapter 1

Hosea’s Wife and Children

1The word of the LORD which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.     2When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.” 3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5“On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”    6Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. 7“But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”     8When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”  10Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea,which cannot be measured or numbered;   and in the place where it is said to them,   “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”   11And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and they will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Chapter 2

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

1Say you to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.2Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;3Lest 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.4And I will not have mercy on her children; for they be the children of prostitutions.5For their mother has played the harlot: she that conceived them has done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.7And 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.8For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.9Therefore 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.10And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.11I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.12And 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.13And I will visit on 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, said the LORD.God’s Mercy to Israel14Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.15And I will give her 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.16And it shall be at that day, said the LORD, that you shall call me Ishi; and shall call me no more Baali.17For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.18And 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.19And I will betroth you to me for ever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.20I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness: and you shall know the LORD.21And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, said the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;22And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.23And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are my God.

Chapter 3

Hosea Redeems his Wife

1Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley.3Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.” 4For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. 5Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

Chapter 4

God’s Charges against Israel

1Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel: for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.3Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yes, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.4Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for your people are as they that strive with the priest.5Therefore shall you fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother.6My 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 you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.7As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.8They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.9And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.10For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit prostitution, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.11Prostitution and wine and new wine take away the heart.12My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares to them: for the spirit of prostitutions has caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.13They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit prostitution, and your spouses shall commit adultery.14I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that does not understand shall fall.15Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not you to Gilgal, neither go you up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD lives.16For Israel slides back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.17Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.18Their drink is sour: they have committed prostitution continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give you.19The wind has bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Chapter 5

God’s Judgment on Israel and Judah

1Hear you this, O priests; and listen, you house of Israel; and give you ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.2And the rebels are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, you commit prostitution, and Israel is defiled.4They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of prostitutions is in the middle of them, and they have not known the LORD.5And the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.6They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.7They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.8Blow you the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after you, O Benjamin.9Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.10The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath on them like water.11Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.12Therefore will I be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.14For 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.15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

Chapter 6

Israel and Judah are Unrepentant

1Come, and let us return to the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up.2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: 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.4O 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.5Therefore have I 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.6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the prostitution of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.11Also, O Judah, he has set an harvest for you, when I returned the captivity of my people.

Chapter 7

Ephraim’s Iniquity

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 without. 2 And they consider not 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, who 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, whiles they lie in wait: their baker 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 them that 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 on him, yet he knows not. 10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, 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 on them; I will bring them down as the fowls 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 on their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. 15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do 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.

Chapter 8

Israel will Reap the Whirlwind

1Set the trumpet to your mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.2Israel shall cry to me, My God, we know you.3Israel has cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.4They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.5Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocence?6For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.7For 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.8Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.9For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim has hired lovers.10Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.11Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him to sin.12I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.13They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of my offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepts them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.14For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples; and Judah has multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire on his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Chapter 9

Hosea Announces Israel’s Punishment

1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for you have gone a whoring from your God, you have loved a reward on every corn floor.2The floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.3They shall not dwell in the LORD’s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.4They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing to him: their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.5What will you do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?6For, see, 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.7The 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.8The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.10I 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 Baalpeor, and separated themselves to that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.12Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yes, woe also to them when I depart from them!13Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.14Give them, O LORD: what will you give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.15All 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 rebels.16Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yes, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.17My God will cast them away, because they did not listen to him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Chapter 10

 Retribution for Israel’s Sin

1Israel 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.2Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.3For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?4They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.5The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.6It 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.7As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam on the water.8The 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.9O 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.10It 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.11And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loves to tread out the corn; but I passed over on her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.12Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness on you.13You 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.14Therefore 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 on her children.15So shall Bethel do to you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

Chapter 11

Out of Egypt I called my Son

1When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.2As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed to Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.3I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.4I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat to them.5He shall not return into the land of Egypt, and the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.6And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.7And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

God’s Mercy Toward Israel

8How 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 repentings are kindled together.9I will not execute the fierceness of my anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the middle of you: and I will not enter into the city.10They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.11They 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, said the LORD.12Ephraim compasses me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet rules with God, and is faithful with the saints.

Chapter 12

A Reproof of Ephraim, Judah, Jacob

1Ephraim 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.2The LORD has also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.3He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:4Yes, 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;5Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.6Therefore turn you to your God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on your God continually.7He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loves to oppress.8And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.9And I that am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt will yet make you to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.10I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.11Is 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.12And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.13And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.14Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood on him, and his reproach shall his LORD return to him.

Chapter 13

Ephraim’s Glory Vanishes

1When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.2And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.3Therefore 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.

God’s Anger

4Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me: for there is no savior beside me.5I did know you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.6According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.7Therefore I will be to them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:8I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the lobe of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

God’s Mercy

9O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in me is your help.10I will be your king: where is any other that may save you in all your cities? and your judges of whom you said, Give me a king and princes?11I gave you a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath.12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.13The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come on him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.14I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be your plagues; O grave, I will be your destruction: repentance shall be hid from my eyes.

The Judgment on Samaria

15Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD 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.16Samaria shall become desolate; for she has rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

Chapter 14

An Exhortation to Repentance

1O Israel, return to the LORD your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity.2Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.3Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride on horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, You are our gods: for in you the fatherless finds mercy.

Promise of God’s Blessing

4I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him.5I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.6His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.7They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.8Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is your fruit found.9Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

• ← Genesis 1:1
• Amos →