2 When Yahweh first spoke through Hoshea, he told him, “Go and get yourself a prostitute for a wife and have children from her, because the country is committing flagrant prostitution by forsaking Yahweh.”

3 So he went and married Divlayim’s daughter Gomer, and she got pregnant and bore him a son. 4 Then Yahweh told him, “Name him Yizre’el, because in a little while I’ll avenge the blood shed in the Yizre’el valley on Yehu’s family, and I’ll put an end to the kingdom of Yisrael.[ref] 5 At that time in the Yizre’el valley, I’ll break Yisrael’s military power.”

6 Then Gomer conceived again and bore a daughter, and Yahweh told Hoshea, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah (which means ‘No mercy’), because I’ll no longer have mercy on the Israelis, and I won’t forgive them at all. 7 But I’ll have mercy on the Yehudah’s descendants, and I’ll save them so they’ll be able to see that it was their God Yahweh. (I won’t save them using bows, swords, battles, horses, or horsemen.)”

8 After she’d weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she got pregnant again and bore a second son. 9 Then Yahweh said, “Name him Lo-Ammi (which means ‘Not my people’) because you’re not my people and I’m not your God.”

10 Yet the number of Israelis will be like the sand on the seashore, which can’t be measured or counted. Then instead of being told, ‘You’re not my people,’ they’ll be told, ‘You are children of the living God.’[ref] 11 The people from both Yehudah and Yisrael will be gathered together. They’ll appoint one leader for themselves, and they’ll come out of the countries where they’d been exiled, because the day of Yizre’el (which means ‘planted by God’) will be great.

2 “Say to your brothers, ‘My people,’ and your sisters, ‘You’ve all been shown compassion.’ ”

2 Contend with your mother, contend, because she’s not my wife,

and nor am I her husband.

Let her turn her face away from prostitution,

and cease her adultery from between her breasts.

3 If she doesn’t, I’ll strip her naked

≈and expose her like on the day she was born.

I will make her like the wilderness,

≈and make her like a sun-baked land,

→and I’ll make her die from thirst.

4 I won’t have mercy on her children,

→because they’re the products of prostitution,

5 because their mother has dabbled in prostitution—

≈the woman who conceived them has acted shamefully.

Yes, she had said, “I’ll go after my lovers,

who give me my bread and my water,

≈my wool and my flax,

≈and my oil and my drink.”

6 Therefore, I’ll fence her paths in with thorns.

I’ll build a wall up against her so she can’t find her way.

7 She’ll try to pursue her lovers, but she won’t be able to catch up to them.

≈She’ll search for them, but she won’t be able to find them.

Then she’ll say, “I’ll go and return to my first husband,

→because it was better for me then than it is now.”

8 No, she hadn’t known that it was me who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil,

≈and who lavished gold and silver on her,

→which they then used for Baal.

9 Therefore I’ll take my grain back in its time,

≈and my new wine in its season.

I’ll take away my wool and my flax

→that were used to cover her nakedness.

10 Now I’ll uncover her lewdness as her lovers watch,

but no one can rescue her from my punishment.

11 I’ll also put an end to all her mirth,

her feasts, her new-moon celebrations, her rest days, and all her scheduled festivals.

12 “I’ll destroy her grapevines and her fig trees,

of which she said, ‘Those are my wages that my lovers gave me.’

I’ll make them grow wild,

→and then the animals in the countryside will devour them.

13 I’ll punish her for the feast days for the Baals,

when she burnt incense to them.

When she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers and forgot me.”

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

14 Therefore, listen, I’m going to entice her.

≈I’ll bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

15 I’ll give her back her vineyards,

and the depressing Akor Valley[ref] as a gateway for hope.

She’ll answer me there as in the days of her youth—

like at the time that she came out of Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim):

16 “Yahweh declares you’ll call me, ‘My husband,’ at the time

^and no longer call me, ‘My master (Heb. Baal),’

17 because I’ll remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,

and they’ll no longer be remembered by their names.”

18 “On that day I’ll make an agreement for them

with the animals in the fields,

with the birds in the sky,

and with the crawling things on the ground.

I’ll abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land,

and I’ll make you lie down in safety.

19 I’ll take you as my wife forever.

I’ll marry you to me in righteousness and justice,

in loyal commitment, and in mercy.

20 I’ll be faithful to you as my wife,

and you’ll know Yahweh.

21 This is Yahweh’s declaration:

At that time I’ll answer the skies with rain,

and they’ll answer the earth.

22 The earth will answer the grain, the new wine and the oil,

and they’ll answer Yizre’el (which means ‘God sows/plants’).

23 I will sow her for myself in the land,

and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah (‘No mercy’).

I will tell Lo-Ammi (‘Not my people’),

‘You are my people,’

and they’ll say, ‘You’re our God.’ ”[ref]

3 Yahweh told me, “Go again and love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the Israeli people, even though they turn to other gods and honour them with raisin cakes.”

2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen silver coins and ten baskets of barley. 3 I told her, “You must stay with me for some time. You mustn’t dabble in prostitution or mess with any other man. In the same way, I’ll be true to you.” 4 because the Israeli people will continue for many days without a king or prince, a sacrifice or stone pillar, and an ephod or household idols. 5 Afterwards, the Israeli people will return and want to follow Yahweh their God and David their king, and in the finals days, they’ll come trembling to Yahweh and to his goodness.

4 Listen to Yahweh’s message you Israelis,

because Yahweh has brought a lawsuit against the inhabitants of the land,

because there’s no faithfulness or loyal commitment—no knowledge of God in the land.

2 There’s cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery.

They’ve broken all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3 Therefore the land mourns,

and everyone who lives in it is wasting away,

along with the animals in the countryside and the birds in the sky.

Even the fish in the sea will disappear.

4 Despite that, don’t let anyone bring a lawsuit,

and don’t let them accuse.

Your people are like those who would accuse a priest.

5 You’ll stumble during the day.

The prophets will also stumble with you at night,

and I’ll destroy Israel your mother.

6 My people are destroyed because of the lack of knowledge

because you have rejected knowledge and I’ll reject you from being a priest to me.

Because you’ve forgotten your God’s instructions,

I’ll also forget your children.

7 The more the priests multiplied, the more they sinned against me.

→I will change their high status into shame.

8 They feed on the sin of my people.

≈They are greedy for their wickedness.

9 It will be like people, like priests.

→I will punish them for their ways

≈and I will repay them for their actions.

10 They’ll eat but never be full.

They’ll sleep around but not prosper,

because they’ve abandoned Yahweh as their protector.

11 Drinking and sleeping around destroy the heart.

12 My people consult their wooden idols,

≈and their divining rods inform them.

because a spirit of unfaithfulness has led them astray,

≈and they’ve played the loose woman, departing from their God.

13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops

≈and burn incense on the hills,

under oaks, poplars and terebinths,

→because the shade is good.

Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,

≈and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

14 I won’t punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves,

≈nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,

because the men themselves go off with loose women,

≈and they offer sacrifices with cult prostitutes,

→so the people without understanding will be ruined.

15 Though you, prostitute yourself, Yisrael,

don’t involve Yehudah in what you’re doing.

Don’t go to Gilgal or to Beth Aven,

and don’t make an oath, saying, ‘As Yahweh lives.’

16 Yisrael is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer.

Can Yahweh now feed them like lambs in a large paddock?

17 Efraim/Yisrael is joined to idols.

Leave them alone.

18 Even when their drinking is over,

they prostitute themselves continually.

Her rulers dearly love their shame.

19 The wind will wrap them up in its wings,

and they’ll be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

5 “Hear this, you priests.

≈Pay attention, you Israelis.

≈Listen, you household of the king,

because the judgment is for you,

because you have all been a snare at Mizpah

≈and a net spread over Mt. Tabor.

2 The rebels stand deep in slaughter,

→but I will discipline all of them.

3 I know Efraim,

≈and Yisrael isn’t hidden from me.

You’ve prostituted yourself for now, Efraim.

≈Yisrael is defiled.

4 Their past actions won’t allow them to return to their God,

because they have a spirit of prostitution within them,

and they don’t know Yahweh.

5 Yisrael’s arrogance testifies against them,

Yisrael and Efraim will stumble in their guilt.

Yehudah also will stumble with them.

6 They’ll go to inquire from Yahweh, taking their flocks and herds for sacrifices,

but they won’t hear from him because he’s withdrawn from them.

7 They were unfaithful to Yahweh because they’ve borne illegitimate children.

Now the new moon festivals will devour them along with their fields.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,

and the trumpet in Ramah.

Sound the alarm at Beyt-Aven:

‘We’ll follow you into battle, Benyamin!’

9 Efraim/Yisrael will become uninhabited in the time of punishment.

Among Yisrael’s tribes I declare what will certainly happen.

10 Yehudah’s leaders are like thieves who move a boundary.

I’ll pour my anger out on them like water from a jug.

11 Efraim is oppresssed.

It’s crushed in judgment,

because it was determined to honour idols.

12 So I’ll be like a moth to Efraim,

≈and like rot to Yehudah’s descendants.

13 When Efraim saw its sickness,

≈and Yehudah its wound,

then Efraim went to Assyria,

≈and sent to the great king there.

But he can’t cure you

≈or heal your wound,

14 because I’ll be like a lion to Efraim,

≈and like a young lion to Yehudah’s descendants.

I myself will tear them apart then go away.

≈I’ll carry them off and there’ll be no one to rescue them.

15 I’ll go and return to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and strive to do what I’ve told them—

until in their distress, they make a sincere decision to obey me.”

6 “Come on, let’s return to Yahweh.

He tore us apart, but he’ll heal us.

He struck us down, but he’ll bandage our wounds.

2 After two days he’ll revive us.

≈He’ll raise us up on the third day,

so that we can live in his presence.

3 Let us know—let’s press on to know Yahweh.

His arrival is certain as the dawn.

≈He will come to us like the showers—

≈like the spring rains that water the earth.”

4 What will I do with you, Efraim?

≈Yehudah, what will I do with you?

Your love is like a morning cloud that doesn’t last long—

≈like the dew that quickly disappears.

5 That’s why I’ve cut them to pieces by means of the prophets.

≈I’ve killed them with the messages that I’ve spoken.

My judgment is like the light that shines out.

6 because I desire loyal commitment rather than sacrifices,

≈and knowledge about God rather than burnt offerings.[ref]

7 Like Adam, they broke the agreement.

≈They were unfaithful to me.

8 Gilead is a city full of evildoers

leaving behind bloody footprints.

9 Just like a band of raiders lie in wait for a man,

so the priests band together to commit murder on the way to Shekem.

Surely they’ve committed shameful crimes.

10 I’ve seen a horrible thing among the Israelis.

Efraim’s prostitution is there—Israel is defiled.

11 A harvest has been appointed for you also, Yehudah,

when I restore my people’s fortunes.

7 Whenever I’d heal Yisrael, Efraim’s sin is exposed,

as well as the evil deeds of Shomron (Samaria).

Yes, they’re deceitful, plus thieves break in,

and a group of raiders robs people in the streets.

2 But they don’t realise in their hearts that I remember all their evil.

≈Now their deeds surround them—they’re staring at me in the face.

3 They make the king glad with their evil,

≈and the leaders with their lies.

4 They’re all adulterers, like an oven overheated by the baker.

He shouldn’t have stoked the fire from the kneading of the dough until after it’s risen.

5 On our king’s day, the leaders became red in the face from the wine.

Then he joined in with those who were mocking.

6 Because with their hearts like an oven, they get closer to implementing their plot.

Their anger smoulders all night—in the morning it bursts into flame.

7 All of them are hot as an oven and they devour those who rule over them.

All their kings have fallen—none of them called to me for help.

8 Efraim/Yisrael mixes itself among the peoples.

Efraim is a flat cake that’s only been cooked on one side.

9 Foreigners have devoured his strength, but he hasn’t realised that.

Gray hairs are now mixed in, but he hasn’t noticed them.

10 Yisrael’s pride testifies against it,

yet they haven’t returned to their God Yahweh,

≈nor have they tried to obey all his instructions.

11 Efraim/Yisrael is like a dove, heartless and foolish,

calling to Egypt for help, then trying Assyria.

12 When they go there, I’ll spread my net over them.

≈I’ll bring them down like the birds in the sky.

→I’ll discipline them according to what they report back to their council.

13 They won’t end well because they’ve strayed from me.

≈Devastation will hit them because they’ve rebelled against me.

→I would have bought them back, but they told lies about me.

14 They don’t cry to me from their heart, but they wail on their beds.

They gather together for grain and new wine, but they turn away from me.

15 Although I trained them and helped them become strong,

they still plot evil against me.

16 They return, but not upward.

They’re like a slack bow.

Their leaders will die by the sword because they’ve been so insolent.

That’s why Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim) will mock them.

8 “Blow the trumpet—

someone like a vulture is swooping over Yahweh’s residence

because Yahweh’s people have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

2 They call out to me,

‘My God, we in Israel know you.’

3 Israel has rejected what’s good.

An enemy will chase after them.

4 They appointed kings, but not through me.

≈They’ve appointed leaders but I didn’t know about it.

They’ve made idols for themselves with their gold and silver

so they’ll end up being destroyed.”

5 “Your calf has been rejected, Shomron (Samaria).

My anger burns against them.

For how long will they be incapable of innocence,

6 because it came from Israel—a craftsman made it.

It’s not God.

That calf in Shomron will end up in pieces,

7 because they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads—it yields no flour.

If it were to produce, strangers would grab it anyway.

8 Israel is swallowed up.

Now they’re now among the nations like a cup that no one likes

9 because they’ve gone up to Assyria—a wild donkey all alone.

Efraim/Yisrael has hired lovers for herself.

10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations, now I’ll gather them together.

They’ll begin to diminish under the burden of the king of princes.

11 Since Efraim has set-up multiple altars for sin offerings,

they have become altars for their sinning.

12 Even if I wrote down my instructions for them ten thousand times,

they would regard them as something strange.

13 As for my sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice meat and eat it,

but Yahweh doesn’t accept their sacrifices.

Now he will remember their disobedience

≈and punish their sins.

They will return to Egypt.

14 Yisrael has forgotten his maker and has built palaces.

≈Yehudah has fortified many cities,

but I’ll send fire into their cities—

≈it’ll devour their fortresses.

9 Don’t celebrate Israel, with joy like the peoples.

because you’ve prostituted yourself—forsaking your God.

≈You’ve loved the wages of a sex-worker on all the threshing floors.

2 The grain threshing floor and the winepress won’t provide enough

≈and the grape harvest will fail them.

3 The people won’t remain on Yahweh’s land,

instead, Efraim/Yisrael will return to Egypt,

≈and they’ll eat non-kosher food in Assyria.

4 They won’t pour out wine offerings to Yahweh,

≈and their sacrifices won’t please him.

To them, it’ll be like the food at a funeral—

everyone who eats it will become defiled.

Their food will only be for themselves to eat—

it won’t be allowed into Yahweh’s residence.

5 So what will you do on the day of an scheduled celebration,

and on the day of a festival for Yahweh?

6 Listen, even if they avoid destruction,

Egypt will gather them.

≈Mof (Memphis) city will bury them.

Nettles will possess their valuable silver.

≈Thornbushes will be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come.

≈The days of retribution have come.

Let Yisrael know these things.

The prophet is a fool,

≈the man of the spirit is insane,

because of the extent of your disobedience

≈and your intense hostility.[ref]

8 The prophet is the watchman over Efraim/Yisrael with my God,

but the bird-catcher’s traps are on all of his paths,

and there’s hostility in his God’s house.

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the time of Gibeah.

He will remember their iniquity,

≈He will punish their sins.[ref]