Study Desk

When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD."

Then the LORD said to him: "Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, [fn] For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,But I will utterly take them away. [fn]

Then God said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, [fn] For you are not My people,And I will not be your God.

Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel Shall be gathered together, And appoint for themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel!

"Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;

"I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry.

For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, "I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.'

She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, "I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.'

For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold-- Which they prepared for Baal.

I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot," says the LORD.

For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.

In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.

23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth,And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; [fn] Then I will say to those who were not My people, [fn] 'You are My people!'And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "

Then the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover [fn] and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans."

So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.

Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.

"Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.