HOSEA,
reredacted
Chapter 1
1. The word of the Lord that
came to Hoshea, 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.
(The narrative)
2. When the Lord spoke at
first through Hoshea, the Lord said to Hoshea: Go, take a wife of harlotry and
children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from
the Lord.
3. So he went and took Gomer
the daughter of Diblaim; who conceived, and bore him a son.
4. And the Lord 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 cause the kingdom of the house of
Israel to cease.
5. And it shall come to pass
at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
6. And she conceived again,
and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name Lo-Ruhamah (Unpitied);
for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will completely
take them away.
(7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will
save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword,
nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.)
8. And when she had weaned
Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.
9. Then God said, Call his
name Lo-Ammi (Not my people), for you are not my people, and I will not be your
God.
Chapter 2
1. And the number of the people of Israel shall be as the
sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor counted; and it shall come to
pass, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there
it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.
2. Then shall the people of Judah and the people of Israel
be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up
from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
3. Say to your brothers, Ammi (My people); and to your
sisters, Ruhamah (Pity).
(The prophet emotes)
4. Plead with your mother,
plead; for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband; let her therefore put away
her harlotry away from of her sight, and her adulteries from between her
breasts;
5. Lest I strip her naked,
and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and
set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
6. And I will not have mercy
upon her children; for they are the children of harlotry.
7. For their mother has
played the harlot; she who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, I
will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my
flax, my oil and my drink.
8. Therefore, behold, I will
hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall against her, that she shall not
find her paths.
9. And she shall follow after
her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but she
shall not find them; then shall she say, I will go and return to my first
husband; for then it was better for me than now.
(Projecting the emotion
onto Yah)
10. For she did not know that it was I who
gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which
they used for the Baal.
11. Therefore I will return, and take back
my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and will recover my wool and
my flax which were to cover her nakedness.
12. And now will I uncover her lewdness in
the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her from my hand.
13. I will also cause all her mirth to
cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn
feasts.
14. And I will destroy her vines and her
fig trees, about which she said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given
me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
15. And I will punish her for the days of
the Baalim, on which she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with
her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, says
the Lord.
16. Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
17. And I will give her vineyards from
there, and the valley of Achor for a gate of hope; and she shall sing there, as
in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came out of the land of
Egypt.
18. And it shall be at that day, says the
Lord, that you shall call me My husband ("Ishi"); and shall no more
call me My master ("Baali").
19. For I will take away the names of
Baalim from her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name.
20. And in that day I will make a covenant
for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven, and with
the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow and the sword and
the battle out of the earth, and will make them lie down safely.
21. And I will betroth you to me for ever;
I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in grace, and
in mercies.
22. I will betroth you to me in
faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.
23. And it shall come to pass in that day,
I will answer, says the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer
the earth;
24. And the earth shall answer the grain,
and the wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Jezreel.
25. And I will sow her to me in the earth;
and I will have mercy upon her who had not obtained mercy; and I will say to
them who were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are my
God.
Chapter 3
(Narrative, this time
in first person)
1. Then said the Lord to me,
Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a lover, and an adulteress; even as
the love of the Lord toward the people of Israel, who look to other gods, and
love cakes of raisins.
2. So I bought her for me for
fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, and a letekh of barley;
3. And I said to her, You
shall remain as mine for many days; you shall not play the harlot, and you
shall not be for another man; so will I also be for you.
4. For the people of Israel shall remain many days without a
king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without a pillar, and
without an ephod, and without teraphim;
5. Afterwards shall the people of Israel return, and seek
the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his
goodness in the latter days.
Chapter 4
(The homile)
1. Hear the word of the Lord,
people of Israel; for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the
land, because there is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land.
2. There is swearing, and
lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break all
bounds, and blood leads to blood.
3. Therefore shall the land
mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall languish, with the beasts of the
field, and with the birds of heaven; the fishes of the sea shall also be taken
away.
4. Yet let no man strive, and
let none accuse; for your people are like those who strive with the priest.
5. Therefore you shall fall
in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with you in the night, and I will
destroy your mother.
6. (K) My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will
also reject you, that you shall not be a priest to me; seeing that you have
forgotten the Torah of your God, I will also forget your children.
7. As they were increased, so
they sinned against me; therefore will I change their glory into shame.
8. They feed on the sin of my
people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
9. And it shall be, like
people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for
their doings.
10. For they shall eat, and
not have enough; they shall commit harlotry, and shall not increase; because
they have ceased to take heed to the Lord.
11. Harlotry and wine and new
wine take away the heart.
12. My people ask counsel of
a piece of wood, and their staff declares to them! For the spirit of harlotry
has caused them to err, and they have left their God to play the harlot.
13. They sacrifice upon the
tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars
and terebinths, because their shadow is good; therefore your daughters shall
commit harlotry, and your brides shall commit adultery.
14. I will not punish your
daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for they themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with cult
prostitutes; therefore the people who do not understand shall fall.
15. Though you, Israel, play
the harlot, let not Judah also be guilty; and do not come to Gilgal, nor go up
to Beth-Aven, nor swear, As the Lord lives.
16. For Israel is stubborn as
a stubborn heifer. Shall the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a large pasture?
17. Ephraim is joined to
idols; let him alone.
18. Their drunken bout is
over; their harlotry is done; they have had their fill of love; their shield is
disgrace.
19. The wind has bound her up
in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
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