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.

Your Name, O Lord, Endures Forever

Taming the Tongue

1 ^cNot many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For ^dwe all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^ehe is a perfect man, ^fable also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put ^gbits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet ^hit boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And ⁱthe tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, ^jstaining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,¹ and set on fire by hell.² 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, ^kfull of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people ^lwho are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,³ these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? ^mBy his good conduct let him show his works ⁿin the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter ^ojealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not ^pthe wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, ^qdemonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But ^rthe wisdom from above is first pure, then ^speaceable, gentle, open to reason, ^tfull of mercy and good fruits, ^uimpartial and ^vsincere. 18 And ^wa harvest of righteousness ^xis sown in peace by those who make peace.

Warning Against Worldliness

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions⁴ are ^yat war within you?⁵ 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^zwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 ^aYou adulterous people!⁶ Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^bTherefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^cthat he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But ^dhe gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^e“God opposes the proud but ^dgives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^fResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 ^gDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^hCleanse your hands, you sinners, and ⁱpurify your hearts, ^jyou double-minded. 9 ^kBe wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 ^lHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 ^mDo not speak evil against one another, brothers.⁷ The one who speaks against a brother or ⁿjudges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only ^oone lawgiver and ^pjudge, he who is able to save and ^qto destroy. But ^rwho are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, ^s“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For ^tyou are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, ^u“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. ^vAll such boasting is evil. 17 ^wSo whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Warning to the Rich

1 Come now, ^xyou rich, weep and howl for the ^ymiseries that are coming upon you. 2 ^zYour riches have rotted and ^zyour garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ^aYou have laid up treasure ^bin the last days. 4 Behold, ^cthe wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and ^dthe cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ^ethe Lord of hosts. 5 ^fYou have lived on the earth in luxury and ^gin self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ^ha day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and ⁱmurdered ^jthe righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,⁸ until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives ^kthe early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. ^lEstablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord ^mis at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, ⁿso that you may not be judged; behold, ^othe Judge is standing ^pat the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take ^qthe prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of ^rthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen ^sthe purpose of the Lord, how ^tthe Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brothers, ^udo not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him ^vsing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^wanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And ^xif he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, ^yconfess your sins to one another and pray for one another, ^zthat you may be healed. ^aThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.⁹ 17 Elijah was a man ^bwith a nature like ours, and ^che prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for ^dthree years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 ^eThen he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

19 My brothers, ^fif anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone ^gbrings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering ^hwill save his soul from death and ⁱwill cover a multitude of sins.