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I heard this, but I couldn't understand what it meant; so I asked, "Lord, what will be the outcome of all this?"

So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

This is the word of Adonai that came to Hoshea the son of Be'eri during the reigns of ‘Uziyah, Yotam, Achaz and Y'chizkiyah, kings of Y'hudah, and during the reign of Yarov‘am the son of Yo'ash, king of Isra'el. Adonai 's opening words in speaking to Hoshea were to instruct Hoshea, "Go, marry a whore, and have children with this whore; for the land is engaged in flagrant whoring, whoring away from Adonai ." So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Adonai said to him, "Call him Yizre‘el, because in only a short time I will punish the house of Yehu for having shed blood at Yizre‘el; I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Isra'el. When that day comes, I will break the bow of Isra'el in the Yizre‘el Valley." She conceived again and bore a daughter. Adonai said to him, "Name her Lo-Ruchamah [unpitied], for I will no longer have pity on the house of Isra'el. By no means will I forgive them. But I will pity the house of Y'hudah; I will save them not by bow, sword, battle, horses or cavalry, but by Adonai their God." After weaning Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived and bore a son. Adonai said, "Name him Lo-‘Ammi [not-my-people], because you are not my people, and I will not be your [God].

This is the word of Adonai that came to Hoshea the son of Be'eri during the reigns of ‘Uziyah, Yotam, Achaz and Y'chizkiyah, kings of Y'hudah, and during the reign of Yarov‘am the son of Yo'ash, king of Isra'el. Adonai 's opening words in speaking to Hoshea were to instruct Hoshea, "Go, marry a whore, and have children with this whore; for the land is engaged in flagrant whoring, whoring away from Adonai ." So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Adonai said to him, "Call him Yizre‘el, because in only a short time I will punish the house of Yehu for having shed blood at Yizre‘el; I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Isra'el. When that day comes, I will break the bow of Isra'el in the Yizre‘el Valley." She conceived again and bore a daughter. Adonai said to him, "Name her Lo-Ruchamah [unpitied], for I will no longer have pity on the house of Isra'el. By no means will I forgive them. But I will pity the house of Y'hudah; I will save them not by bow, sword, battle, horses or cavalry, but by Adonai their God." After weaning Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived and bore a son. Adonai said, "Name him Lo-‘Ammi [not-my-people], because you are not my people, and I will not be your [God].

"Nevertheless, the people of Isra'el will number as many as the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; so that the time will come when, instead of being told, ‘You are not my people,' it will be said to them, ‘You are the children of the living God.'

Therefore, I will block her way with thorns and put up a hedge so she can't find her paths.

So I will take back my grain at harvest-time and my wine in its season; I will snatch away my wool and flax, given to cover her naked body.

So I bought her back for myself with fifteen pieces of silver and eight bushels of barley .

just as bands of robbers wait to ambush someone, so does a gang of cohanim. They commit murder on the road to Sh'khem! Their conduct is an outrage!

For they sow the wind, so they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no ears, so it will yield no flour; and if it does yield any, foreigners will swallow it up.

I write him so many things from my Torah, yet he considers them foreign.

The days of punishment have come, the days of retribution are here, and Isra'el knows it. [Yet they cry,] "The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit has gone crazy!" Because your iniquity is so great, the hostility [against you] is great.

I will not give vent to the fierceness of my rage, I will not return to destroy Efrayim; for I am God, not a human being, the Holy One among you; so I will not come in fury.

class="poetry"> "When Isra'el was a child, I loved him; and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more [the prophets] called them, the farther they went from them. They sacrificed to the ba‘alim and offered incense to idols. "Yet it was I who taught Efrayim to walk; I took them by their arms. But they did not know that it was I who was healing them, who was guiding them on through human means with reins made of love. With them I was like someone removing the yoke from their jaws, and I bent down to feed them. He will not return to the land of Egypt, but Ashur will be his king, because they refused to repent. The sword will fall on his cities, destroying the bars of his gates, because they follow their own advice. My people are hanging in suspense about returning to me; and though they call them upwards, nobody makes a move. Efrayim, how can I give you up, or surrender you, Isra'el? How could I treat you like Admah or make you like Tzvoyim? My heart recoils at the idea, as compassion warms within me. I will not give vent to the fierceness of my rage, I will not return to destroy Efrayim; for I am God, not a human being, the Holy One among you; so I will not come in fury. They will go after Adonai , who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west. They will tremble like a bird as they come from Egypt, like a dove as they come from the land of Ashur; and I will resettle them in their own houses, says Adonai .

So you, return to your God; hold fast to grace and justice; and always put your hope in your God.

Efrayim says, ‘I have gotten so rich! I have made me a fortune! And in all my profits no one will find anything wrong or sinful.'

By a prophet Adonai brought Isra'el up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was protected. Efrayim has given bitter provocation, so the penalty for his bloodshed will be thrown down on him, and his Lord will repay him for his insult.

So now they keep adding sin to sin, casting images from their silver; idols they invent for themselves, all of them the work of craftsmen. ‘Sacrifice to them,' they say. Men give kisses to calves!

So now I have become like a lion to them; like a leopard I will lurk by the road;

So now, where is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and leaders'?