So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley ¹  to purchase her.

(12:1) ¹  Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; the house of Israel has surrounded me ²  with deceit. But Judah still roams about with ³  God; he remains faithful to the Holy One.

Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! ¹  Listen closely, ²  O king! ³  For judgment is about to overtake you! ⁴  For you were like a trap ⁵  to Mizpah, ⁶  like a net ⁷  spread out to catch Tabor. ⁸ 

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ¹  that my lovers gave to me!” I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ²  into an uncultivated thicket, so that wild animals ³  will devour them.

The time of judgment ¹  is about to arrive! ²  The time of retribution ³  is imminent! ⁴  Let Israel know! ⁵ The prophet is considered a fool ⁶  – the inspired man ⁷  is viewed as a madman ⁸  – because of the multitude of your sins and your intense ⁹  animosity.

Even now they persist in sin! ¹  They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion ²  from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: ³  “Those who sacrifice ⁴  to the calf idol are calf kissers!” ⁵ 

The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes, the princes make him glad with their lies.

I will destroy you, ¹  O Israel! Who ²  is there to help you?

I know Ephraim all too well; ¹  the evil of ²  Israel is not hidden from me. For you have engaged in prostitution, O Ephraim; Israel has defiled itself. ³ 

“At that time,” ¹  declares the Lord, “you will call, ²  ‘My husband’; ³  you will never again call me, ⁴  ‘My master.’ ⁵ 

“At that time, ¹  I will willingly respond,” ²  declares the Lord. “I will respond to the sky, and the sky ³  will respond to the ground;

They do not realize ¹  that I remember all of their wicked deeds. Their evil deeds have now surrounded them; their sinful deeds are always before me. ² 

Woe to them! For they have fled from me! Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me! I want to deliver ¹  them, but they have lied to me.

The Lord also has a covenant lawsuit ¹  against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.

Then the Lord said to Hosea, ¹  “Name him ‘Jezreel,’ because in a little while I will punish ²  the dynasty ³  of Jehu on account of the bloodshed ⁴  in the valley of Jezreel, ⁵  and I will put an end to the kingdom ⁶  of Israel. ⁷ 

I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying, I will bring them down like birds in the sky; I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.

They enthroned kings without my consent! ¹  They appointed princes without my approval! ²  They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! ³