6 He went out and hmade war against the Philistines and broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him iagainst the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the jMeunites. 8 The Ammonites kpaid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong. 9 Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at lthe Corner Gate and at mthe Valley Gate and at nthe Angle, and fortified them. 10 And he built towers in the wilderness and ocut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. 11 Moreover, Uzziah had an army of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. 12 The whole number of the heads of fathers’ houses of mighty men of valor was 2,600. 13 Under their command was an army of p307,500, who could make war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14 And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, qcoats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, ain the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of bJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hosea’s Wife and Children
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, c“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have dchildren of whoredom, for ethe land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while fI will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and gI will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day hI will break the bow of Israel iin the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, j“Call her name No Mercy,1 for kI will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But lI will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I mwill not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, n“Call his name Not My People,2 for oyou are not my people, and I am not your God.”3
10 4 Yet pthe number of the children of Israel shall be qlike the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. rAnd sin the place where it was said to them, o“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, t“Children5 of uthe living God.” 11 And vthe children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and wthey shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished
1 6 Say to your brothers, x“You are my people,”7 and to your sisters, y“You have received mercy.”8
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for zshe is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away aher whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest bI strip her naked
and make her as cin the day she was born,
and dmake her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 eUpon her children also I will have no mercy,
fbecause they are children of whoredom.
5 For gtheir mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For hshe said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who igive me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore jI will hedge up her9 way with thorns,
and kI will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
lThen she shall say,
‘I will go and return to mmy first husband,
lfor it was better for me then than now.’
8 And nshe did not know
that it was oI who gave her
pthe grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on qher silver and gold,
rwhich they used for Baal.
9 Therefore sI will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and sI will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now tI will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 uAnd I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her vnew moons, her vSabbaths,
and all her wappointed feasts.
12 And xI will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
yof which she said,
‘These are zmy wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
aand the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And bI will punish her for cthe feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and dadorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
The Lord’s Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and ebring her into the wilderness,
and fspeak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor10 a door of hope.
And there she shall answer gas in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And hin that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For iI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And jI will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And kI will abolish11 the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in lsafety. 19 And I will betroth you to me mforever. nI will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 nI will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And oyou shall know the Lord.
21 “And pin that day qI will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer rJezreel,12
23 and sI will sow her for myself in the land.
And tI uwill have mercy on No Mercy,13
and vI will say to Not My People,14 w‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea Redeems His Wife
1 And the Lord said to me, x“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a yhomer and a lethech15 of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must zdwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel zshall dwell many days awithout king or prince, bwithout sacrifice or cpillar, without dephod or ehousehold gods. 5 Afterward fthe children of Israel shall return and gseek the Lord their God, and hDavid their king, iand they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the jlatter days.
