Hosea 1

1 [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.

The word of Jehovah, which came to Hoses, 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.

2 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).”

The beginning of the word of Jehovah by Hosea. Jehovah said to Hosea: Go, and take thee a wife of lewdness, and children of lewdness; for the land hath committed great lewdness; it is false to Jehovah.

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

So he went, and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 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,

And Jehovah said to him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will bring the kingdom of the house of Israel to an end.

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

Yea, in that day will I break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

6 [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].

And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name Unpitied; for I will no more have pity upon the house of Israel, but will surely take them away.

7 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].”

But upon the house of Judah will I have pity, and will save them by Jehovah their God; I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.

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

Then she weaned her daughter Unpitied, and conceived, and bore a son.

9 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.

And God said, Call his name Not-my-people. For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

10 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.’

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured, or numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, there shall it be said to them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

11 [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].”

Then shall the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel be gathered together, and shall appoint to themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel.