MKJV - Hosea

Chapter 1

1:1  The 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.

1:2  The beginning of the LORD speaking by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of adultery and children of adultery. For the land has utterly gone lusting away from the LORD.

1:3  So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son.

1:4  And the LORD said to him, Call his name God Will Sow. For still in a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

1:5  And it shall be, at that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

1:6  And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name No-mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel. But I will utterly take them away.

1:7  But 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.

1:8  And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.

1:9  And He said, Call his name Not-my-people. For you are not My people, and I will not be for you.

1:10  Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall be, 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.

1:11  Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Chapter 2

2:1  Say to your brothers, A People; and to your sisters, Mercy.

2:2  Contend! Contend with your mother, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her fornications out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts,

2:3  lest I strip her naked and set her out as in the day that she was born; and lest I make her as the wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

2:4  And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of adulteries.

2:5  For their mother has prostituted herself. She who conceived them has done shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers who give my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

2:6  Therefore behold, I will hedge your way with thorns, and wall up her wall, that she shall not find her paths.

2:7  And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. She shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.

2:8  For she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

2:9  So I will return and take away My grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

2:10  And now I will uncover her shamefulness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.

2:11  I will also cause all her joy to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.

2:12  And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, They 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.

2:13  And I will visit on her the days of the Baals, in which she burned incense to them, and she adorned herself with her nose-rings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot Me, says the LORD.

2:14  Therefore, behold, I will lure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.

2:15  And I will give her vineyards to her 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.

2:16  And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, you shall call Me, My Husband, and shall no more call Me, My Baal.

2:17  For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no more be remembered by their name.

2:18  And in that day I will cut a covenant for them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, 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.

2:19  And I will betroth you to Me forever. Yea, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies.

2:20  I will even betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

2:21  And it will be, in that day I will answer, says the LORD. I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth,

2:22  and the earth shall hear the grain and the wine and the oil. And they shall hear Jezreel.

2:23  And I will sow her to Me in the earth. And I will have mercy on No-mercy. And I will say to Not-my-people, You are My people. And they shall say, My God.

Chapter 3

3:1  And the LORD said to me, Go again. Love a woman beloved by a friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the sons of Israel, who turn to other gods, and love raisin-cakes of grapes.

3:2  So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley and a half homer of barley.

3:3  And I said to her, You shall abide for me many days. You shall not be a harlot, nor be for a man. And I also will be for you.

3:4  For the sons of Israel shall live many days with no king, and no ruler, and with no sacrifice, and no pillars, and no ephod, or teraphim.

3:5  Afterward the sons of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. And they shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the ends of the days.

Chapter 4

4:1  Hear the word of the LORD, sons of Israel. For the LORD has a quarrel with the people of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

4:2  There is lying, and swearing, and killing, and stealing, and the committing of adultery; and blood touches blood.

4:3  Therefore the land shall mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall droop, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heavens. Yes, the fish of the sea shall also be taken away.

4:4  Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another. For your people are as those who strive with the priest.

4:5  And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night, and I will cut off your mother.

4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons, even I.

4:7  As they were increased, so they sinned against Me. I will change their glory into shame.

4:8  They eat up the sin of My people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.

4:9  And it has become, Like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their doings.

4:10  For they shall eat and not have enough. They shall fornicate and not increase, because they have stopped taking heed to the LORD.

4:11  Fornication and wine and new wine take away the heart.

4:12  My people seek advice from their wooden idols, and their rod declares to them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to go astray, and they have gone lusting away from under their God.

4:13  They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because its shade is good. So your daughters shall be harlots, and your brides shall commit adultery.

4:14  I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate, nor your wives when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes. The people who do not understand are thrown down.

4:15  Though you, Israel, fornicate, yet do not let Judah become guilty. And do not come to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As the LORD lives.

4:16  For Israel slides back like a backsliding heifer. Now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

4:17  Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.

4:18  Their drink is sour; they are continually fornicating; her rulers dearly love shame.

4:19  The wind has bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Chapter 5

5:1  Hear this, O priests, and listen, house of Israel. And give ear, house of the king. For judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread on Tabor.

5:2  And revolters have gone deep in slaughtering, and I chasten all of them.

5:3  I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me. For now, O Ephraim, you have fornicated; Israel is defiled.

5:4  Their doings will not allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of fornication is in their midst, and they have not known the LORD.

5:5  And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. So Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

5:6  They 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.

5:7  They have acted treacherously against the LORD, for they have brought out strange sons. Now a new moon shall devour them with their portions.

5:8  Blow the horn in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah; cry aloud at Beth-aven, after you, O Benjamin.

5:9  Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I have made known that which is confirmed.

5:10  The rulers of Judah were like movers of a border; I will pour out My wrath on them like water.

5:11  Ephraim is crushed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

5:12  Therefore I am as a moth to Ephraim, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

5:13  When 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.

5:14  For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a strong lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away. I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

5:15  I will go; I will return to My place until they confess their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me diligently.

Chapter 6

6:1  Come and let us return to the LORD. For He has torn, and He will heal us; He has stricken, and He will bind us up.

6:2  After two days He will bring us to life; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.

6:3  Then we shall know, if we follow on to know the LORD. His going out is prepared as the morning; and He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to the earth.

6:4  O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is like a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away.

6:5  So I have cut them down by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth. And your judgments were as the light that goes out.

6:6  For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

6:7  But, like Adam, they have broken the covenant. They have acted like traitors against Me there.

6:8  Gilead is a city of trouble-makers, slippery with blood marks.

6:9  And as troops of robbers wait for a man, the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; for they committed wickedness.

6:10  I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; the harlotry of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.

6:11  Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed to you, when I return the captivity of My people.

Chapter 7

7:1  When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria. For they have worked falsehood. And the thief comes in, the troop of robbers plunders outside.

7:2  And they do not say within their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their own doings have hemmed them in; they are before My face.

7:3  They make the king glad with their evil, and the rulers with their lies.

7:4  They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker; he stops stirring, from kneading the dough, while it is leavened.

7:5  In the day of our king, the rulers have sickened themselves with the heat of wine. He stretches out his hand with scorners.

7:6  For they have brought their heart near like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps at night; in the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

7:7  They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen; there is none among them who calls to Me.

7:8  Ephraim mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

7:9  Strangers have eaten up his strength, and he does not know. Yea, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he knows it not.

7:10  And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. And they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek Him in all this.

7:11  Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt; they go to Assyria.

7:12  When they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like the birds of the heavens; I will chastise them, as a report to their congregation.

7:13  Woe to them! For they have fled from Me. Ruin to them! Because they have sinned against Me. Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.

7:14  And they have not cried to Me with their heart, when they howled on their beds; they gather themselves for grain and wine, and they rebel against Me.

7:15  Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet they think evil against Me.

7:16  They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a deceitful bow; their rulers shall fall by the sword from the rage of their tongue. This shall be their scorn in the land of Egypt.

Chapter 8

8:1  Put a trumpet to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have broken My covenant and have sinned against My law.

8:2  Israel shall cry to Me, My God, we know You.

8:3  Israel has thrown off good; the enemy shall pursue him.

8:4  They have set up kings, but not by Me; they have made rulers, and I knew it not. They have made themselves idols with their silver and their gold, so that they may be cut off.

8:5  Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off. My anger is kindled against them. Until when will they not attain purity?

8:6  For from Israel it came also. The craftsman made it, but it is not God. For the calf of Samaria shall be splinters.

8:7  For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind. It has no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal; if it does yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

8:8  Israel is swallowed up; now they shall be among the nations as a vessel in which there is no pleasure.

8:9  For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself. Ephraim has hired lovers.

8:10  Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them. And they began to be few, from the burden of the king of rulers.

8:11  Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him to sin.

8:12  I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

8:13  They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of My offerings, and eat it; but the LORD does not receive them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt.

8:14  For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples. And Judah has multiplied cities. But I will send a fire on his cities, and it shall burn up her palaces.

Chapter 9

9:1  O Israel, rejoice not for joy, like the peoples. For you have gone lusting away from your God; you have loved a reward on every grain floor.

9:2  The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

9:3  They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

9:4  They shall not pour wine to the LORD, nor shall they be pleasing to Him. Their sacrifices shall be like the bread of sorrows to them; all who eat of them shall be defiled. For their bread is for their soul, it shall not come into the house of the LORD.

9:5  What will you do in the day of meeting, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

9:6  For lo, they have left because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess the desirable things of their silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

9:7  The days of her judgment have come; the days of vengeance have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and the great hatred.

9:8  The watchman of Ephraim was with my God. The prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

9:9  They have deeply corrupted, as in days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.

9:10  I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first-fruit in the fig tree at her first time. But they went to Baal-peor and set themselves apart to a shameful thing; and they became abominable like that which they loved.

9:11  Ephraim is like a bird; their glory shall fly away from birth, and from the womb, and from conception.

9:12  Though they bring up their sons, yet I will make them childless, without a man. Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

9:13  Ephraim, when I looked toward Tyre, was planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim shall bring out his sons to the murderer.

9:14  Give them, O Lord; what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

9:15  All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them out of My house for the wickedness of their doings. I will love them no more; all their rulers are revolters.

9:16  Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yea, though they bear, yet I will slay the beloved ones of their womb.

9:17  My God shall cast them away because they did not listen to Him. And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Chapter 10

10:1  Israel is an luxuriant vine; he brings out fruit to himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he has increased the altars. They have made beautiful images according to the goodness of his land.

10:2  Their heart is divided; now they shall be guilty. He shall break down their altars, and He shall spoil their images.

10:3  For now they shall say, We have no king because we did not fear the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

10:4  They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant. So judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

10:5  Because of the calves of Beth-aven, the people of Samaria shall dread. For its people shall mourn over it, and its priest rejoiced on it for its glory, because it has departed from it.

10:6  It 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.

10:7  As for Samaria, her king is cut off as a bough on the water.

10:8  Also the high places 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.

10:9  O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood; the battle against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them in Gibeah.

10:10  When I desire, I shall bind them; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves to their two perversities.

10:11  And Ephraim is like a trained heifer, trying to tread out. But I passed over on the goodness of her neck. I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

10:12  Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

10:13  You 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.

10:14  And an uproar shall arise among your peoples, and all your fortresses shall be spoiled, as the ruin of Beth-arbel by Shalman in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces on her sons.

10:15  So He does to you, Bethel, because of your great evil. In a morning the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

Chapter 11

11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called My son out of Egypt.

11:2  As they called them, so they went from them. They sacrifice to the Baals, and burn incense to graven images.

11:3  I also taught Ephraim to go; He took them on His arm. But they did not know that I healed them.

11:4  I 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 gently give food to him.

11:5  He shall not return to the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

11:6  And the sword shall remain on his cities, and shall destroy his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

11:7  And My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt Him.

11:8  How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you like Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassions are kindled together.

11:9  I will not carry out the heat of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not enter into the city.

11:10  They shall walk after the LORD; He shall roar like a lion. When He shall roar, then the sons shall tremble from the west.

11:11  They shall tremble like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria. And I will place them in their houses, says the LORD.

11:12  Ephraim circles around Me with lying, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah still rules with God, and is faithful with the saints.

Chapter 12

12:1  Ephraim feeds on wind and follows after the east wind. He daily multiplies lies and cruelty. And they make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

12:2  The LORD also has a quarrel with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings He will repay him.

12:3  He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God.

12:4  Yes, he wept and cried to Him, and he had power over the Angel and overcame. He found him in Bethel, and there He spoke with us,

12:5  even the LORD God of hosts. Jehovah is his memorial.

12:6  Therefore turn to your God; keep mercy and judgment, and wait on your God forever.

12:7  He is a merchant; the scales of deceit are in his hand; he loves to oppress.

12:8  And Ephraim said, Yet I have become rich, I have found much wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.

12:9  And I the LORD, who have been your God from the land of Egypt, will yet make you to dwell in tents as in the days of the appointed feast.

12:10  I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions and have used parables by the hand of the prophets.

12:11  Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity; they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal. Yes, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

12:12  And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept watch.

12:13  And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept safe.

12:14  Ephraim provoked Me to anger most bitterly; therefore he shall leave his blood on him, and his Lord shall turn his reproach to him.

Chapter 13

13:1  When Ephraim spoke trembling, he was lifted up in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.

13:2  And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves a molten image 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.

13:3  Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff storm-driven out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

13:4  Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me. For there is no Savior besides Me.

13:5  I have known you in the wilderness, in the land of great dryness.

13:6  According to their pasture, so were they filled. They were filled and their heart was lifted up. Therefore they have forgotten Me.

13:7  Therefore I will be as a lion to them; as a leopard by the way I will watch them.

13:8  I will meet them like a bereaved bear, and will tear the lining of their heart. And there I will devour them like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them.

13:9  O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in Me is your help.

13:10  Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities; and your judges of whom you said, Give me a king and rulers?

13:11  I gave you a king in My anger, and took him away in My wrath.

13:12  The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin hidden.

13:13  The pains of a woman in travail shall come to him. He is an unwise son; for he cannot stand still in the time of the breaking forth of sons.

13:14  I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, where are your plagues; O Grave, where is your ruin! Repentance shall be hidden from My eyes.

13:15  Though 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 be ashamed, and his fountain shall be dried up. He shall plunder the treasure of all desirable vessels.

13:16  Samaria shall become a waste, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women shall be ripped up.

Chapter 14

14:1  O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity.

14:2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the calves of our lips.

14:3  Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods, for in You the fatherless finds mercy.

14:4  I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him.

14:5  I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall grow as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon.

14:6  His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

14:7  They who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

14:8  Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and watched him; I am like a green fir tree. Your fruit is found from Me.

14:9  Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Understanding, and he shall know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them; but sinners shall fall in them.