Hosea’s Wife and Children

1The word of the Lord 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.

2The beginning of the Lord’s conversation with Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take to yourself a wife of fornications, and make for yourself sons of fornications, because, by fornicating, the land will fornicate away from the Lord.” 3And he went out and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son. 4And the Lord said to him: “Call his name Jezreel because, after a little while, I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put the kingdom of the house of Israel to rest. 5And in that day, I will crush the stronghold of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

6And after a while, she conceived and bore a daughter. And he said to him: “Call her name, Without Mercy, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them. 7Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. And I will not save them by bow and sword and battle and horses and horsemen.”

8And she weaned her, who was called Without Mercy. And she conceived and bore a son. 9And he said: “Call his name, Not My People, for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

10And the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which is without measure and cannot be numbered. And in the place where it will be said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ this will happen: it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’

11And the sons of Judah, and the sons of Israel, will be gathered together. And they will place over themselves one head, and they will rise up from the earth, for great is the day of Jezreel.”