Hosea 1

1 The 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.

[I am] Hosea, the son of Beeri. Yahweh gave me these messages [at various times] during the years that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah, and Jeroboam the son of Jehoash was the King of Israel.

2 The 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.”

When Yahweh first [began to] give messages to me [to tell to the people of Israel], he said to me, “Go and marry a prostitute. But [some of] her children will be born as a result of her having sex with men to whom she is not married. That will illustrate how the people of Israel have turned away from me and worship (idols/other gods).”

3 And he went out and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.

So I married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. She became pregnant and gave birth to my son.

4 And 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.

Yahweh said to me, “Give him the name Jezreel, [which means ‘God scatters’], because I will soon punish the descendants [MTY] of [King] Jehu [by scattering them], because he killed many of my people at Jezreel [town]. [Some day] I will end the kingdom of Israel,

5 And in that day, I will crush the stronghold of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

by destroying the power [MTY] of [the army of] Israel in Jezreel Valley.”

6 And 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.

[Later] Gomer became pregnant [again], and she gave birth to a daughter. Yahweh said to me “Give her the name Lo-ruhamah, [which means ‘not loved],’ because I will no longer [show that I] love the people [MET] of Israel, and I will not forgive them [for the sins that they have committed].

7 Yet 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.”

But I will [show that I] love the people [MTY] of Judah [by saving them from their enemies]. However, it will not be by weapons and armies or horses and chariots that I will save them. Instead, it will be by [the power that I], Yahweh their God, [have].”

8 And she weaned her, who was called Without Mercy. And she conceived and bore a son.

After Gomer had (weaned/stopped breast-feeding) Lo-ruhamah, she became pregnant again, and she gave birth to another son.

9 And he said: “Call his name, Not My People, for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

Yahweh said “Give him the name Lo-ammi, [which means 'not my people', ] because the people of Israel are no [longer my people], and I am not their God.

10 And 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.’

But [some day] the people of Israel will be [as numerous] as [SIM] the [grains of] sand on the seashore; no one will be able to count them. Now [I] am saying to them, ‘You are not my people,’ but then people will say to them, ‘[You are the] children of God who is all-powerful.’

11 And 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.”

[At that time], the people of Judah and the people of Israel will unite. They will appoint one leader for all of them, and they will return from the countries [to which they have been (exiled/forced to go)]. That will be a great time; Jezreel [also means ‘God plants’, and it will be as though God will plant them in this country again].”