The Hebrew Prophets

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.'

Then the people of Y'hudah and the people of Isra'el will be gathered together; they will appoint for themselves one leader; and they will go up out of the land; for that will be a great day, [the day] of Yizre'el.

Say to your brothers, 'Ammi [My People]!' and to your sisters, 'Ruchamah [Pitied]!'

Rebuke your mother, rebuke her; for she isn't my wife, and I'm not her husband. She must remove her whoring from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts.

Otherwise, I will strip her naked and place her as she was the day she was born, make her like a desert, place her like a dry land and kill her with thirst.

I will have no pity on her children, for they are children of whoring

their mother prostituted herself, she who conceived them behaved shamelessly; she said, 'I will pursue my lovers, who give me my food and water, wool, flax, olive oil and wine.'

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

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them. She will seek them but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; because things were better for me then than they are now.'

For she doesn't know it was I who gave her the grain, the wine and the oil; I who increased her silver and gold, which they used for Ba'al.

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.

Now I will uncover her shame, while her lovers watch; and no one will save her from me.

I will end her happiness, her festivals, Rosh-Hodesh, and shabbats, and all her designated times.

I will ravage her vines and fig trees, of which she says, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' But I will turn them into a forest, and wild animals will eat them.

I will punish her for offering incense on the feast days of the ba'alim, when she decked herself with her earrings and jewels, pursuing her lovers and forgetting me," says ADONAI.

"But now I am going to woo her - I will bring her out to the desert and I will speak to her heart.