Hosea

This is the message the LORD gave to Hosea son of Beeri. It came while Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and while Jeroboam son of Joash was king of Israel.

1The 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.

Note"The LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH; Jewish readers said "the Lord" aloud instead, and English translations follow that custom. The kings listed set the date: after Solomon the nation had split into two states, Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem, and Israel in the north with its capital at Samaria. Hosea worked in the north, but the chapter dates itself mainly by southern kings, covering roughly 750 to 700 BC. Jeroboam son of Joash (Jeroboam II) ruled the north during its last prosperous years.

2When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, "Go and marry a woman who sells herself for sex, and have children with her who come from that unfaithful life. The people of this land have been completely unfaithful to me by turning away from me."

2The 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.

NoteIn the prophets, selling oneself for sex is the standard figure of speech for a nation abandoning its own God for other gods, and the Hebrew word covers both the literal act and the image. Readers have argued since ancient times over whether Hosea was told to marry an actual prostitute, a woman who would later become unfaithful, or whether the marriage is a narrated parable; the Hebrew leaves it open. "Children who come from that unfaithful life" translates a phrase that can mean children born of her prostitution or simply children who belong to a nation described as unfaithful.

3So Hosea went and married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for him.

3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

4Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Name him Jezreel. In a short time I will punish the family of Jehu for the blood that was shed at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

4And 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.

NoteJezreel is a city and the broad valley beside it in northern Israel, and the name means "God sows." "The blood of Jezreel" refers to the massacre by which Jehu seized the northern throne about a century earlier, killing the previous royal house at Jezreel (2 Kings 9-10). "The family of Jehu" means his dynasty, still on the throne in Hosea's day in the person of Jeroboam II. Naming a child after the site of that bloodbath would land roughly the way naming a child after a notorious atrocity would now.

5On that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel."

5And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

Note"Break the bow" is a standard idiom for destroying a nation's military power, not a statement about one weapon. The Valley of Jezreel is the wide plain cutting across northern Israel, flat, fertile, and the country's main battlefield, where armies had fought for centuries.

6Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. Then God said to Hosea, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, which means 'not pitied.' I will no longer show pity to the people of Israel, and I will certainly not forgive them.

6And 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.

NoteHebrew names carried plain meanings, and prophets sometimes gave their children names that functioned as walking public announcements. Lo-ruhamah is not a normal name but a sentence: "she is not pitied." The second half of the verse is difficult Hebrew and translators divide: it may mean "I will certainly not forgive them," or "I will utterly take them away," or "that I should in any way forgive them."

7But I will show pity to the people of Judah. I will rescue them, and I will do it as the LORD their God, not by bow or sword or war, and not by horses or riders."

7But 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.

NoteBow, sword, horses and riders are the ordinary instruments of ancient warfare; horses and chariotry were the expensive elite arm that only a strong state could field. The line contrasts rescue by military force with rescue without it.

8After Gomer had finished nursing Lo-ruhamah, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

8Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.

NoteWeaning in this culture came at roughly two or three years, and was often marked by a family celebration. The detail signals the passage of several years between the second and third child.

9Then God said, "Name him Lo-ammi, which means 'not my people.' You are not my people, and I am not your God.

9Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

NoteLo-ammi is again a sentence rather than a name: "not my people." The two phrases here reverse the standard formula of the agreement between God and Israel, "you shall be my people and I will be your God." The Hebrew of the second half is unusual and literally reads something like "I am not 'I am' to you," echoing the divine name given to Moses in Exodus 3:14.

10Yet the people of Israel will become as many as the sand on the seashore, which no one can measure or count. And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living 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 unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Note"As many as the sand on the seashore" repeats the wording of the promises made to Abraham and Jacob about their descendants; it was a fixed phrase for an uncountable multitude. "The living God" was a common way of distinguishing Israel's God from carved images, which could not act.

11Then the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be brought back together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will come up out of the land, because the day of Jezreel will be a great day.

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.

Note"One leader" translates a word meaning "head," here a single ruler over both kingdoms instead of the two rival kings they then had. "Come up out of the land" is deliberately open in Hebrew: it can mean coming up out of the land they were exiled to, coming up from the earth, or taking possession of the land, and it echoes the language used of coming up out of Egypt. "The day of Jezreel" turns the name of verse 4 around, since Jezreel means "God sows" as well as naming the place of slaughter.