Hosea's Unfaithful Wife and Her Children

11 The word of Yahweh 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 Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.” 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son. 4 Yahweh 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 [1]; 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 Yahweh 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 [2]; 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 nor numbered; 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.

The LORD's Love for His Unfaithful People

21 “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ [3]
and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’ [4] 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 Yahweh.

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 Yahweh,
“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 Yahweh. 21 It will happen in that day, I will respond,” says Yahweh,
“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!’”

Hosea and the Adulteress

31 Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer [5] and a half of barley. 3 I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.” 4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.

The LORD's Controversy with Israel

41 Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel;
for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land:
“Indeed there is no truth,
nor goodness,
nor knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and everyone who dwells therein will waste away.
all living things in her,
even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky;
yes, the fish of the sea also die. 4 “Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. 5 You will stumble in the day,
and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night;
and I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you,
that you may be no priest to me.
Because you have forgotten your God’s law,
I will also forget your children. 7 As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me.
I will change their glory into shame. 8 They feed on the sin of my people,
and set their heart on their iniquity. 9 It will be, like people, like priest;
and I will punish them for their ways,
and will repay them for their deeds. 10 They will eat, and not have enough.
They will play the prostitute, and will not increase;
because they have abandoned giving to Yahweh. 11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

12 My people consult with their wooden idol,
and answer to a stick of wood.
Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray,
and they have been unfaithful to their God. 13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,
and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths,
because its shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the prostitute,
and your brides commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
because the men consort with prostitutes,
and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes;
so the people without understanding will come to ruin. 15 “Though you, Israel, play the prostitute,
yet don’t let Judah offend;
and don’t come to Gilgal,
neither go up to Beth Aven,
nor swear, ‘As Yahweh lives.’ 16 For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer.
Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow. 17 Ephraim is joined to idols.
Leave him alone! 18 Their drink has become sour.
They play the prostitute continually.
Her rulers dearly love their shameful way. 19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings;
and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

11 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel [6] to his servant, John, 2 who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.

Greetings to the Seven Churches

4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood; 6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests [7] to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, [8] says the Lord God, [9] “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

A Vision of the Son of Man

9 I John, your brother and partner with you in oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet 11 saying, [10]What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies [11]: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” 12 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. 13 And among the lampstands was one like a son of man, [12] clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. 16 He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.

He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades [13]. 19 Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter; 20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels [14] of the seven assemblies. The seven lampstands are seven assemblies.