Hosea:1-7

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* The word of the LORD that came unto 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 . * The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea . And the LORD said to Hosea , Go , take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms : for the land hath committed great whoredom , departing from the LORD . * So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim ; which conceived , and bare him a son . * And the LORD said unto him , Call his name Jezreel ; for yet a little while , and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu , and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel . * And it shall come to pass at that day , that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel . * And she conceived again , and bare a daughter . And God said unto him , Call her name Loruhamah : for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel ; but I will utterly take them away . * But I will have mercy upon 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 . * Now when she had weaned Loruhamah , she conceived , and bare a son . * Then said God , Call his name Loammi : for ye are not my people , and I will not be your God . * Yet 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 unto them , Ye are not my people , there it shall be said unto them , Ye are the sons of the living God . * Then 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 . * Say ye unto your brethren , Ammi ; and to your sisters , Ruhamah . * Plead with your mother , plead : for she is not my wife , neither am I her husband : let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight , and her adulteries from between her breasts ; * Lest 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 slay her with thirst . * And I will not have mercy upon her children ; for they be the children of whoredoms . * For their mother hath played the harlot : she that conceived them hath done shamefully : for she said , I will go after my lovers , that give me my bread and my water , my wool and my flax , mine oil and my drink . * Therefore , behold , I will hedge up thy way with thorns , and make a wall , that she shall not find her paths . * And 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 was it better with me than now . * For she did not know that I gave her corn , and wine , and oil , and multiplied her silver and gold , which they prepared for Baal . * Therefore will I return , and take away my corn in the time thereof , and my wine in the season thereof , and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness . * And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers , and none shall deliver her out of mine hand . * I will also cause all her mirth to cease , her feast days , her new moons , and her sabbaths , and all her solemn feasts . * And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees , whereof she hath 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 . * And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim , wherein she burned incense to them , and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels , and she went after her lovers , and forgat me , saith the LORD . * Therefore , behold , I will allure her , and bring her into the wilderness , and speak comfortably unto her . * And I will give her her vineyards from thence , 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 . * And it shall be at that day , saith the LORD , that thou shalt call me Ishi ; and shalt call me no more Baali . * For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth , and they shall no more be remembered by their name . * And in that day will I 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 . * And I will betroth thee unto me for ever ; yea , I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness , and in judgment , and in lovingkindness , and in mercies . * I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness : and thou shalt know the LORD . * And it shall come to pass in that day , I will hear , saith the LORD , I will hear the heavens , and they shall hear the earth ; * And the earth shall hear the corn , and the wine , and the oil ; and they shall hear Jezreel . * And I will sow her unto me in the earth ; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy ; and I will say to them which were not my people , Thou art my people ; and they shall say , Thou art my God . * Then said the LORD unto me , Go yet , 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 . * So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver , and for an homer of barley , and an half homer of barley : * And I said unto her , Thou shalt abide for me many days ; thou shalt not play the harlot , and thou shalt not be for another man : so will I also be for thee . * For 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 : * Afterward 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 . * Hear the word of the LORD , ye children of Israel : for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land , because there is no truth , nor mercy , nor knowledge of God in the land . * By swearing , and lying , and killing , and stealing , and committing adultery , they break out , and blood toucheth blood . * Therefore shall the land mourn , and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish , with the beasts of the field , and with the fowls of heaven ; yea , the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away . * Yet let no man strive , nor reprove another : for thy people are as they that strive with the priest . * Therefore shalt thou fall in the day , and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night , and I will destroy thy mother . * My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge : because thou hast rejected knowledge , I will also reject thee , that thou shalt be no priest to me : seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God , I will also forget thy children . * As they were increased , so they sinned against me : therefore will I change their glory into shame . * They eat up the sin of my people , and they set their heart on their iniquity . * And there shall be , like people , like priest : and I will punish them for their ways , and reward them their doings . * For they shall eat , and not have enough : they shall commit whoredom , and shall not increase : because they have left off to take heed to the LORD . * Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart . * My people ask counsel at their stocks , and their staff declareth unto them : for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err , and they have gone a whoring from under their God . * They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains , and burn incense upon the hills , under oaks and poplars and elms , because the shadow thereof is good : therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom , and your spouses shall commit adultery . * I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom , nor your spouses when they commit adultery : for themselves are separated with whores , and they sacrifice with harlots : therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall . * Though thou , Israel , play the harlot , yet let not Judah offend ; and come not ye unto Gilgal , neither go ye up to Bethaven , nor swear , The LORD liveth . * For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer : now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place . * Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone . * Their drink is sour : they have committed whoredom continually : her rulers with shame do love , Give ye . * The wind hath bound her up in her wings , and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices . * Hear ye this , O priests ; and hearken , ye house of Israel ; and give ye ear , O house of the king ; for judgment is toward you , because ye have been a snare on Mizpah , and a net spread upon Tabor . * And the revolters are profound to make slaughter , though I have been a rebuker of them all . * I know Ephraim , and Israel is not hid from me : for now , O Ephraim , thou committest whoredom , and Israel is defiled . * They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God : for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them , and they have not known the LORD . * And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face : therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity ; Judah also shall fall with them . * They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD ; but they shall not find him ; he hath withdrawn himself from them . * They have dealt treacherously against the LORD : for they have begotten strange children : now shall a month devour them with their portions . * Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah , and the trumpet in Ramah : cry aloud at Bethaven , after thee , O Benjamin . * Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke : among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be . * The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound : therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water . * Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment , because he willingly walked after the commandment . * Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth , and to the house of Judah as rottenness . * When Ephraim saw his sickness , and Judah saw his wound , then went Ephraim to the Assyrian , and sent to king Jareb : yet could he not heal you , nor cure you of your wound . * For I will be unto 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 none shall rescue him . * I will go and return to my place , till they acknowledge their offence , and seek my face : in their affliction they will seek me early . * Come , and let us return unto the LORD : for he hath torn , and he will heal us ; he hath smitten , and he will bind us up . * After two days will he revive us : in the third day he will raise us up , and we shall live in his sight . * Then shall we know , if we follow on to know the LORD : his going forth is prepared as the morning ; and he shall come unto us as the rain , as the latter and former rain unto the earth . * O Ephraim , what shall I do unto thee ? O Judah , what shall I do unto thee ? for your goodness is as a morning cloud , and as the early dew it goeth away . * Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets ; I have slain them by the words of my mouth : and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth . * For I desired mercy , and not sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings . * But they like men have transgressed the covenant : there have they dealt treacherously against me . * Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity , and is polluted with blood . * And as troops of robbers wait for a man , so the company of priests murder in the way by consent : for they commit lewdness . * I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel : there is the whoredom of Ephraim , Israel is defiled . * Also , O Judah , he hath set an harvest for thee , when I returned the captivity of my people . * When I would have healed Israel , then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered , and the wickedness of Samaria : for they commit falsehood ; and the thief cometh in , and the troop of robbers spoileth without . * And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness : now their own doings have beset them about ; they are before my face . * They make the king glad with their wickedness , and the princes with their lies . * They are all adulterers , as an oven heated by the baker , who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough , until it be leavened . * In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine ; he stretched out his hand with scorners . * For they have made ready their heart like an oven , whiles they lie in wait : their baker sleepeth all the night ; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire . * They are all hot as an oven , and have devoured their judges ; all their kings are fallen : there is none among them that calleth unto me . * Ephraim , he hath mixed himself among the people ; Ephraim is a cake not turned . * Strangers have devoured his strength , and he knoweth it not : yea , gray hairs are here and there upon him , yet he knoweth not . * And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face : and they do not return to the LORD their God , nor seek him for all this . * Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart : they call to Egypt , they go to Assyria . * When they shall go , I will spread my net upon them ; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven ; I will chastise them , as their congregation hath heard . * Woe unto them ! for they have fled from me : destruction unto them ! because they have transgressed against me : though I have redeemed them , yet they have spoken lies against me . * And they have not cried unto me with their heart , when they howled upon their beds : they assemble themselves for corn and wine , and they rebel against me . * Though I have bound and strengthened their arms , yet do they imagine mischief against me . * They 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 . * Set the trumpet to thy mouth . He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD , because they have transgressed my covenant , and trespassed against my law .

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