The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  “Call his name Jezreel,

  For in a little while

  h I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,

  i And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

  5j It shall come to pass in that day

  That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

  6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:

  “Call her name 2Lo-Ruhamah,

  k For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,

  3 But I will utterly take them away.

  7l Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,

  Will save them by the LORD their God,

  And mwill not save them by bow,

  Nor by sword or battle,

  By horses or horsemen.”

  8Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.

  9Then God said:

  “Call his name 4Lo-Ammi,

  For you are not My people,

  And I will not be your God. God’s Lovingkindness to Israel

  The Restoration of Israel

  10“Yet nthe number of the children of Israel

  Shall be as the sand of the sea,

  Which cannot be measured or numbered.

  o And it shall come to pass

  In the place where it was said to them,

  ‘You are 5not My ppeople,’

  There it shall be said to them,

  ‘You are qsons of the living God.’

  11r Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel

  Shall be gathered together,

  And appoint for themselves one head;

  And they shall come up out of the land,

  For great will be the day of Jezreel!

  Hosea 2

  The LORD’s Love for His Unfaithful People

  1Say to your brethren, 1‘My people,’

  And to your sisters, 2‘Mercy is shown.’

  God’s Unfaithful People

  2“Bring3 charges against your mother, 4bring charges;

  For ashe is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!

  Let her put away her bharlotries from her sight,

  And her adulteries from between her breasts;

  3Lest cI strip her naked

  And expose her, as in the day she was dborn,

  And make her like a wilderness,

  And set her like a dry land,

  And slay her with ethirst.

  4“I will not have mercy on her children,

  For they are the fchildren of harlotry.

  5For their mother has played the harlot;

  She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.

  For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

  g Who give me my bread and my water,

  My wool and my linen,

  My oil and my drink.’

  6“Therefore, behold,

  h I will hedge up your way with thorns,

  And 5wall her in,

  So that she cannot find her paths.

  7She will 6chase her lovers,

  But not overtake them;

  Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.

  Then she will say,

  i‘I will go and return to my jfirst husband,

  For then it was better for me than now.’

  8For she did not kknow

  That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,

  And multiplied her silver and gold—

  Which they prepared for Baal.

  9“Therefore I will return and take away

  My grain in its time

  And My new wine in its season,

  And will take back My wool and My linen,

  Given to cover her nakedness.

  10Now lI will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,

  And no one shall deliver her from My hand.

  11m I will also cause all her mirth to cease,

  Her feast days,

  Her New Moons,

  Her Sabbaths—

  All her appointed feasts.

  12“And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,

  Of which she has said,

  ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’

  So I will make them a forest,

  And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

  13I will punish her

  For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.

  She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,

  And went after her lovers;

  But Me she forgot,” says the LORD.

  God’s Mercy on His People

  14“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

  Will bring her into the wilderness,

  And speak 7comfort to her.

  15I will give her her vineyards from there,

  And nthe Valley of Achor as a door of hope;

  She shall sing there,

  As in othe days of her youth,

  p As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

  16“And it shall be, in that day,”

  Says the LORD,

  “That you will call Me 8‘My Husband,’

  And no longer call Me 9‘My Master,’

  17For qI will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,

  And they shall be remembered by their name no more.

  18In that day I will make a rcovenant for them

  With the beasts of the field,

  With the birds of the air,

  And with the creeping things of the ground.

  Bow and sword of battle sI will shatter from the earth,

  To make them tlie down safely.

  19“I will betroth you to Me forever;

  Yes, I will betroth you to Me

  In righteousness and justice,

  In lovingkindness and mercy;

  20I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,

  And uyou shall know the LORD.

  21“It shall come to pass in that day

  That vI will answer,” says the LORD;

  “I will answer the heavens,

  And they shall answer the earth.

  22The earth shall answer

  With grain,

  With new wine,

  And with oil;

  They shall answer 10Jezreel.

  23Then wI will sow her for Myself in the earth,

  x And I will have mercy on her who had 11not obtained mercy;

  Then yI will say to those who were 12not My people,

  ‘You are 13My people!’

  And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

  Hosea 3

  Israel Will Return to God

  1Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a alover1 and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”

  2So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.

  3And I said to her, “You shall bstay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”

  4For the children of Israel shall abide many days cwithout king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without dephod or eteraphim.

  5Afterward the children of Israel shall return and fseek the LORD their God and gDavid their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the hlatter days.

  Hosea 4

  God’s Charge Against Israel

  1Hear the word of the LORD,

  You children of Israel,

  For the LORD brings a acharge1 against the inhabitants of the land:

  “There is no truth or mercy

  Or bknowledge of God in the land.

  2By swearing and lying,

  Killing and stealing and committing adultery,

  They break all restraint,

  With bloodshed 2upon bloodshed.

  3Therefore cthe land will mourn;

  And deve
ryone who dwells there will waste away

  With the beasts of the field

  And the birds of the air;

  Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

  4“Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;

  For your people are like those ewho contend with the priest.

  5Therefore you shall stumble fin the day;

  The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;

  And I will destroy your mother.

  6g My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

  Because you have rejected knowledge,

  I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

  h Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

  I also will forget your children.

  7“The more they increased,

  The more they sinned against Me;

  i I3 will change 4their glory into shame.

  8They eat up the sin of My people;

  They set their 5heart on their iniquity.

  9And it shall be: jlike people, like priest.

  So I will punish them for their ways,

  And 6reward them for their deeds.

  10For kthey shall eat, but not have enough;

  They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;

  Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.

  The Idolatry of Israel

  11“Harlotry, wine, and new wine lenslave the heart.

  12My people ask counsel from their mwooden idols,

  And their 7staff informs them.

  For nthe spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,

  And they have played the harlot against their God.

  13o They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops,

  And burn incense on the hills,

  Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,

  Because their shade is good.

  p Therefore your daughters commit harlotry,

  And your brides commit adultery.

  14“I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,

  Nor your brides when they commit adultery;

  For the men themselves go apart with harlots,

  And offer sacrifices with a qritual harlot.

  Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

  15“Though you, Israel, play the harlot,

  Let not Judah offend.

  r Do not come up to Gilgal,

  Nor go up to sBeth8 Aven,

  t Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the LORD lives’—

  16“For Israel uis stubborn

  Like a stubborn calf;

  Now the LORD will let them forage

  Like a lamb in 9open country.

  17“ Ephraim is joined to idols,

  v Let him alone.

  18Their drink 10is rebellion,

  They commit harlotry continually.

  w Her 11rulers 12dearly love dishonor.

  19x The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,

  And ythey shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

  Hosea 5

  Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah

  1“Hear this, O priests!

  Take heed, O house of Israel!

  Give ear, O house of the king!

  For 1yours is the judgment,

  Because ayou have been a snare to Mizpah

  And a net spread on Tabor.

  2The revolters are bdeeply involved in slaughter,

  Though I rebuke them all.

  3c I know Ephraim,

  And Israel is not hidden from Me;

  For now, O Ephraim, dyou commit harlotry;

  Israel is defiled.

  4“They2 do not direct their deeds

  Toward turning to their God,

  For ethe spirit of harlotry is in their midst,

  And they do not know the LORD.

  5The fpride of Israel testifies to his face;

  Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

  Judah also stumbles with them.

  6“With their flocks and herds

  g They shall go to seek the LORD,

  But they will not find Him;

  He has withdrawn Himself from them.

  7They have hdealt treacherously with the LORD,

  For they have begotten 3pagan children.

  Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

  8“Blowi the ram’s horn in Gibeah,

  The trumpet in Ramah!

  j Cry aloud at kBeth Aven,

  ‘ Look behind you, O Benjamin!’

  9Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;

  Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

  10“The princes of Judah are like those who lremove a landmark;

  I will pour out My wrath on them like water.

  11Ephraim is moppressed and broken in judgment,

  Because he willingly walked by nhuman precept.

  12Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,

  And to the house of Judah olike rottenness.

  13“When Ephraim saw his sickness,

  And Judah saw his pwound,

  Then Ephraim went qto Assyria

  And sent to King Jareb;

  Yet he cannot cure you,

  Nor heal you of your wound.

  14For rI will be like a lion to Ephraim,

  And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

  s I, even I, will tear them and go away;

  I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.

  15I will return again to My place

  Till they 4acknowledge their offense.

  Then they will seek My face;

  In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

  Hosea 6

  A Call to Repentance

  1Come,a and let us return to the LORD;

  For bHe has torn, but cHe will heal us;

  He has stricken, but He will 1bind us up.

  2d After two days He will revive us;

  On the third day He will raise us up,

  That we may live in His sight.

  3e Let us know,

  Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.

  His going forth is established fas the morning;

  g He will come to us hlike the rain,

  Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

  Impenitence of Israel and Judah

  4“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?

  O Judah, what shall I do to you?

  For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,

  And like the early dew it goes away.

  5Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,

  I have slain them by ithe words of My mouth;

  And 2your judgments are like light that goes forth.

  6For I desire jmercy3 and knot sacrifice,

  And the lknowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

  7“But like 4men they transgressed the covenant;

  There they dealt treacherously with Me.

  8m Gilead is a city of evildoers

  And 5defiled with blood.

  9As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,

  So the company of npriests omurder on the way to Shechem;

  Surely they commit plewdness.

  10I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:

  There is the 6harlotry of Ephraim;

  Israel is defiled.

  11Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,

  When I return the captives of My people.

  Hosea 7

  Israel Has Rebelled Against God

  1“When I would have healed Israel,

  Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,

  And the wickedness of Samaria.

  For athey have committed fraud;

  A thief comes in;

  A band of robbers 1takes spoil outside.

  2They 2do not consider in their hearts

  That bI remember all their wickedness;

  Now their own deeds have surrounded them;

&nbs
p; They are before My face.

  3They make a cking glad with their wickedness,

  And princes dwith their lies.

  4“Theye are all adulterers.

  Like an oven heated by a baker—

  He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,

  Until it is leavened.

  5In the day of our king

  Princes have made him sick, 3inflamed with fwine;

  He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

  6They prepare their heart like an oven,

  While they lie in wait;

  4 Their baker sleeps all night;

  In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

  7They are all hot, like an oven,

  And have devoured their judges;

  All their kings have fallen.

  g None among them calls upon Me.

  8“ Ephraim hhas mixed himself among the peoples;

  Ephraim is a cake unturned.

  9i Aliens have devoured his strength,

  But he does not know it;

  Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,

  Yet he does not know it.

  10And the jpride of Israel testifies to his face,

  But kthey do not return to the LORD their God,

  Nor seek Him for all this.

  Futile Reliance on the Nations

  11“ Ephraiml also is like a silly dove, without 5sense—

  m They call to Egypt,

  They go to nAssyria.

  12Wherever they go, I will ospread My net on them;

  I will bring them down like birds of the air;

  I will chastise them

  p According to what their congregation has heard.

  13“Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!

  Destruction to them,

  Because they have transgressed against Me!

  Though qI redeemed them,

  Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

  14r They did not cry out to Me with their heart

  When they wailed upon their beds.

  “They 6assemble together for grain and new swine,

  7 They rebel against Me;

  15Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,

  Yet they devise evil against Me;

  16They return, but not 8to the Most High;

  t They are like a treacherous bow.

  Their princes shall fall by the sword

  For the ucursings of their tongue.

  This shall be their derision vin the land of Egypt.

  Hosea 8

  The Apostasy of Israel

  1“Set the 1trumpet to your mouth!

  He shall come alike an eagle against the house of the LORD,

  Because they have transgressed My covenant