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.

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.