“At that time,” declares the Lord, “you will call, ‘My husband’; you will never again call me, ‘My master.’

Then you will call your brother, “My People” (Ammi)! You will call your sister, “Pity” (Ruhamah)!

My people are obsessed with turning away from me; they call to Baal, but he will never exalt them!

Ephraim has been like a dove, easily deceived and lacking discernment. They called to Egypt for help; they turned to Assyria for protection.

All of them are blazing like an oven; they devour their rulers. All of their kings fall – and none of them call on me!

The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace!

When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt.

But the more I summoned them, the farther they departed from me. They sacrificed to the Baal idols and burned incense to images.

Then the Lord said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you are not my people and I am not your God.”

Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Name him ‘Jezreel,’ because in a little while I will punish the dynasty of Jehu on account of the bloodshed in the valley of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity on the nation of Israel. For I will certainly not forgive their guilt.

Then I will plant her as my own in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he will say, ‘You are my God!’”

When I please, I will discipline them; I will gather nations together to attack them, to bind them in chains for their two sins.

Where then is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? Where are your rulers for whom you asked, saying, “Give me a king and princes”?

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.

They offer up sacrificial gifts to me, and eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. Soon he will remember their wrongdoing, he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt.

Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!”

(2:1) However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are children of the living God!”