Episode 218: Go marry a whore

Hosea 1-5

1 ^1-2 The word of God came to Hosea, saying:

Go marry a whore and have children with her, because the people have committed great whoredoms by leaving me.

³ So Hosea married Gomer, and they had a son.

⁴ God said to Hosea,

Call his name Jezreel because I'll punish Jehu's descendants for Jehu's killings in Jezreel.

⁶ Gomer conceived again and had a daughter. God said to Hosea,

Call her name Loruhamah because I will have no mercy on Israel.

⁸ Gomer had another daughter. God said to Hosea,

Call her name Loammi because you're not my people and I'm not your God.

Tell your mother that she's a whore

2 ¹ God said to Hosea's children,

Tell your mother that she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.

Tell her to put away her whoredoms and her adulteries between her breasts.

³ Or I will strip her naked and make her die of thirst.

⁴ I won't have mercy on her children, because they are the children of whoredoms.

⁵ Since your mother has played the harlot, and said, "I will go after my lovers."

⁶ I'll line your path with thorns.

⁷ She'll seek her lovers, but she won't find them.

¹⁰ I'll discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers. She won't get away from me.

¹² I'll destroy her fig trees.

¹³ She put on earrings and jewels, went after her lovers, and forgot me.

But I'll make her love me again

¹⁴ But I'll lure her into the wilderness and say nice things to her.

¹⁵ I'll give her vineyards, and she'll sing like she did when she was young.

¹⁶ On that day, she'll call me Ishi (husband) instead of Baal.

¹⁷ I'll take the names of Baal out of her mouth.

¹⁸ I'll make a covenant with the beasts, fowls, and creeping things. They'll all lie down safely.

¹⁹ You'll be my wife forever.

²⁰ You'll be faithful to me, and you'll know I'm God.

²¹ On that day, I'll hear the heavens and the heavens will hear me.

²² The earth will hear the grain, wine, and oil. and they'll hear Jezreel.

²³ And I'll say to the people who were not my people, "You are my people."

And the people will say, "You are my God."

Go have sex with an adulteress

3 ¹ God said to me, "Go have sex with an adulteress who has a lover."

² So I bought a woman for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

³ I said to her,

You'll be with me for many days, and while you are, don't play the harlot.

You won't have sex with another man; you'll have sex with me.

⁴ For Israel will be without a king for many days.

⁵ Then, in the latter days, Israel will return to God with David as their king. And they'll fear God and his goodness.

4 ^1-2 Hear the word of God, you people of Israel. God has a controversy with you, because of your swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and adultery.

³ Therefore the land will mourn, and the beasts, birds, and fish will die.

⁵ You'll fall in the day, the prophet will fall in the night, and I'll destroy your mother.

⁶ The people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you. Since you have forgotten God's law, I'll forget your children.

¹⁰ They won't have enough to eat, and they'll commit whoredom.

^11-12 They're all drinking wine and going a whoring in the spirit of whoredoms.

¹³ They're sacrificing on top of mountains and burning incense on hills under trees. Therefore, your daughters will commit whoredom and your spouses will commit adultery.

¹⁵ But you, Israel, are playing the harlot.

¹⁸ Your drink is sour, and you commit whoredom continually.

They have strange children

5 ³ Ephraim, you have committed whoredom and Israel is defiled.

⁴ The spirit of whoredom is in the midst of them.

⁶ They'll seek God, but they won't find him. He's hiding from them.

⁷ They have begotten strange children.

⁹ Ephraim will be desolate.

¹⁰ I'll pour my wrath on them like water.

¹² Therefore I'll be like a moth to Ephraim. And unto Judah, I'll be rottenness.

^14-15 I'll be like a lion to Ephraim and Judah. I'll tear them to pieces until they acknowledge my face and seek me early.