Hosea 1:2

Symbols of Sin and Judgment: The Prostitute and Her Children

1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the Lord.”

Hosea 2:2-3

Idolatrous Israel Will Be Punished Like a Prostitute

2:2 Plead earnestly with your mother

(for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),

so that she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle,

and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.

2:3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked,

and expose her like she was when she was born.

I will turn her land into a wilderness

and make her country a parched land,

so that I might kill her with thirst.

Hosea 2:9

2:9 Therefore, I will take back my grain during the harvest time

and my new wine when it ripens;

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided in order to clothe her.

Hosea 2:13

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days

when she burned incense to the Baal idols;

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but she forgot me!” says the Lord.

Hosea 4:6

4:6 You have destroyed my people

by failing to acknowledge me!

Because you refuse to acknowledge me,

I will reject you as my priests.

Because you reject the law of your God,

I will reject your descendants.

Hosea 8:4

The Political and Cultic Sin of Israel

8:4 They enthroned kings without my consent!

They appointed princes without my approval!

They made idols out of their silver and gold,

but they will be destroyed!

Hosea 8:14

8:14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,

and Judah has built many fortified cities.

But I will send fire on their cities;

it will consume their royal citadels.

Hosea 10:11

Fertility Imagery: Plowing, Sowing, and Reaping

10:11 Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;

I myself put a fine yokeon her neck.

I will harness Ephraim.

Let Judah plow!

Let Jacob break up the unplowed ground for himself!

Hosea 13:3

13:3 Therefore they will disappear like the morning mist,

like early morning dew that evaporates,

like chaff that is blown away from a threshing floor,

like smoke that disappears through an open window.