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Hosea 1
1The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take a
wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land has committed great whoredom,
departing from the LORD. 3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; who
conceived and bore him a son. 4And the LORD said to him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little
while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and will cause the kingdom to
cease from the house of Israel. 5And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow
of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to
him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will not have mercy any more on the house of Israel; but I
will utterly take them away. 7But I will have mercy on the house of Judah and will save them
by the LORD their God and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses,
nor by horsemen.
8Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9Then said God, Call
his name Loammi: for you are not my people and I will not be your God. 10Yet the number of
the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered;
and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people,
there it shall be said to them, you are the sons of the living God. 11Then shall the children of
Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head and they
shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
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Chapter 2
1Say to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. 2Plead with your mother, plead:
for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms 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 kill her
with thirst. 4And I will not have mercy on her children; for they are the children of whoredoms.
5For their mother has played the harlot: she that conceived them has done shamefully: for she
said, I will go after my lovers,who 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, so 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 it was 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 I
will return and take away my corn in its time and my wine in its season and will recover my
wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10And now I will uncover her lewdness in the
sight of her lovers and no one 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, of which 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, in which she burned incense to them and she decked herself
with her earrings and her jewels and she went after her lovers and forgot me, says the LORD.
14Therefore, 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, says 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 I will 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, says 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 who 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.
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Chapter 3
1Then the LORD said to me, Go still, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress,
according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods and
love flagons of wine. 2So I bought her for fifteen pieces of silver and for an homer of barley,
and an half homer of barley: 3And I said to her, You shall abide with me many days; you shall
not play the harlot and you shall not be for another man: so I will also be for you. 4For the
children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince and without a
sacrifice and without an image and without an ephod and without teraphim: 5Afterward shall
the children of Israel return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and shall fear
the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
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Chapter 4
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 who dwells in it shall
languish, with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven; yes, the fish of the sea also
shall be taken away. 4Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for your people are as those
who 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, so 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 I will change their glory into shame. 8They eat up the sin of my people and they set
their heart on their iniquity. 9And it shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for
their ways and reward them with their doings. 10For they shall eat and not have enough: they
shall commit whoredom and shall not increase: because they have left off taking heed to the
LORD. 11Whoredom 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
whoredoms 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 its shadow is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom and
your spouses shall commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they commit
whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for they themselves are separated with
whores and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people who do not understand shall fall. 15
Israel, though you, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and do not come to Gilgal, nor
go 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 whoredom continually: her rulers give love
with shame . 19The wind has bound her up in her wings and they shall be ashamed because of
their sacrifices.
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Chapter 5
1Hear this, O priests; and listen, house of Israel; and give 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 revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. 3I
know Ephraim and Israel is not hidden from me: for now, O Ephraim, you commit whoredom, and
Israel is defiled. 4They will not arrange their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of
whoredoms is in the midst of them and they have not known the LORD. 5And the pride of
Israel testifies 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 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 I have
made known that which shall surely be. 10The princes of Judah were like those who remove the
boundry: 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 I will 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 Ephraim went to the Assyrian and sent to king Jareb:
yet he could 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 no
one shall rescue him. 15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence and
seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
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Chapter 6
1Come and let us return to the LORD: for he has torn and he will heal us; he has struck 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 killed 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 like men they have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously
against me. 8Gilead is a city of those who 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 a horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the
whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11Also, O Judah, he has set a harvest for you, when I
return the captivity of my people.
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Chapter 7
1When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered and the
wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief comes in, and the troop of
robbers spoils out side. 2And they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their
wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. 3They make
the king glad with their wickedness and the princes with their lies. 4They are all adulterers, as
an oven heated by the baker, who ceases from raising after he has kneaded the dough, until it be
leavened. 5In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he
stretched out his hand with scorners. 6For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while
they lie in wait: their baker sleeps all the night; in the morning it burns as a flaming fire. 7They
are all hot as an oven and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none
among those who calls to me.
8Ephraim has mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9Strangers
have devoured his strength and he does not know it: yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,
yet he does not know. 10And the pride of Israel testifies to his face: and they do not return to the
LORD their God, nor seek him for all this. 11Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they
call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12When 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.
13Woe 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. 14And 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. 15Though I have bound and strengthened their arms,
yet they imagine mischief against me. 16They 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.
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Chapter 8
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 did not know it: they
have made idols of their silver and their gold, so 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
innocency? 6For it was also from Israel: 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 not yield any meal: if it does yield strangers shall swallow it up.
8Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel in which is no
pleasure. 9For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim has hired
lovers. 10Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now I will 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 does not accept them; he will now 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 their palaces.
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Chapter 9
1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for you have gone whoring from your God,
you have loved a reward on every corn floor. 2The floor and the winepress 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, nor shall they be pleasing to him: their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread
of mourners; all that eat of it 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, lo, 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 I will bereave them, so that
there shall not be a man left: yes, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13Just as I saw Tyre, Ephraim 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 not love them any more: all their princes are
revolters. 16Ephraim has been struck, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yes, though
they bring forth, yet I will kill 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.
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Chapter 10
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 they shall 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 in making a covenant,
swearing falsely: 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 its people shall mourn
over it and its priests who rejoiced on it, for its glory, because it has departed from it. 6It
shall also be 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 comes and rains righteousness on you. 13You have
plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of lies: because you
trusted 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.
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Chapter 11
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 did not know that I healed them.
4I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as those who take off
the yoke on their jaws and I laid food to them. 5He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but
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 to the most High, none at all
would exalt him.
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 midst 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, says 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.
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Chapter 12
1Ephraim feeds on wind and follows after the east wind: he daily increases lies and
desolation; and they 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 he will 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 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 out substance: in all my labors they shall
find no iniquity in me that is sin. 9And I, who is 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 most bitterly to anger: therefore he shall leave his
blood on him and his reproach shall his Lord return to him.
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Chapter 13
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 who 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. 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 knew 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 they have
forgotten me. 7Therefore I will be to them as a lion: as a leopard by the way I will observe
them: 8I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps and will rend the caul of
their heart and there I will devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
9O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in me is your help. 10I will be your king:
where is any other who 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 hidden from my eyes. 15Though he is 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.
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Chapter 14
1O Israel, return to the LORD your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2Take
words with you 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: nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our gods: for
in you the fatherless finds mercy.
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. 7Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as
the corn and grow as the vine: its scent 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 in them.
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