They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served BAAL.

"I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.They prophesied by BAAL,and caused my people Israel to err.

1. The LORD' s word 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.

2. When the LORD spoke at first by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking The LORD."

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

4. The LORD said to him, "Call his name Jezreel; for yet 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.

5. It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

6. She conceived again, and bore a daughter.Then he said to him, "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.

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, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen."

8. Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.

9. He said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

10. Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'

11. The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.

1. "Say to your brothers, 'My people!'and to your sisters, 'My loved one!'

2. Contend with your mother!Contend, for she is not my wife,neither am I her husband;and let her put away her prostitution from her face,and her adulteries from between her breasts;

3. Lest I strip her naked,and make her bare as in the day that she was born,and make her like a wilderness,and set her like a dry land,and kill her with thirst.

4. Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy;for they are children of unfaithfulness;

5. For their mother has played the prostitute.She who conceived them has done shamefully;for she said, 'I will go after my lovers,who give me my bread and my water,my wool and my flax,my oil and my drink.'

6. Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns,and I will build a wall against her,that she can't find her way.

7. She will follow after her lovers,but she won't overtake them;and she will seek them,but won't find them.Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband;for then was it better with me than now.'

8. For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for BAAL.

9. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time,and my new wine in its season,and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

10. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

11. I will also cause all her celebrations to cease:her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

12. I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,about which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me;and I will make them a forest,'and the animals of the field shall eat them.

13. I will visit on her the days of the BAALs,to which she burned incense,when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels,and went after her lovers,and forgot me," says The LORD.

14. "Therefore behold, I will allure her,and bring her into the wilderness,and speak tenderly to her.

15. I will give her vineyards from there,and the valley of Achor for a door of hope;and she will respond there,as in the days of her youth,and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

16. It will be in that day," says The LORD,"that you will call me 'my husband,'and no longer call me 'my master.'

17. For I will take away the names of the BAALs out of her mouth,and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

18. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field,and with the birds of the sky,and with the creeping things of the ground.I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land,and will make them lie down safely.

19. I will betroth you to me forever.Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

20. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness;and you shall know The LORD.

21. It will happen in that day, I will respond," says The LORD,"I will respond to the heavens,and they will respond to the earth;

22. and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil;and they will respond to Jezreel.

23. I will sow her to me in the earth;and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;and I will tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people;'and they will say, 'My God!'"

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.He exalted himself in Israel,but when he became guilty in BAAL, he died.