Hosea 1

Hosea 1:2

THE beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

When God first revealed his will to Hosea, and gave to him his first charge, the Lord said unto him: Thy very person and thine actions are prophetical, and thou therein shalt carry a type of the relation betwixt me and the Church of Israel: go, therefore; and, for a resemblance of my respects to sinful Israel, take unto thee a wife, that hath heretofore been noted for unchastity, howsoever now reclaimed: and beget children of that wife, which was once blemished with known fornication: for such is the state of Israel towards me: the land hath been notorious for her spiritual whoredoms, departing from the Lord to abominable idols.

Hosea 1:3

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

So, in obedience to the command of God, and for a sign to Israel, the prophet went and took to wife Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, a woman formerly noted for incontinency; which conceived, and bare him a son.

Hosea 1:4

And the LORD said unto 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 to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

And the Lord said unto the prophet Hosea, Call his name Jezreel; for, ere long, I will avenge upon the posterity of Jehu the blood, which he, in his cruelty and ambition, shed in Jezreel: which slaughter, however, in my just judgment, it were deservedly executed, yet, as it was the act of treachery VOL. IV. B and undue affectation of dominion in the chief agents therein, shall be accordingly punished; for Zacharias, the son of Jeroboam, the last of that line, shall, after six months’ reign, lose both his life and his kingdom, by the hand of Shallum; and with him, the posterity of Jehu shall be extinguished.

Hosea 1:5

And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

And, from that day, I will cause the state of Israel to impair and sink more and more; till, at the last, I shall cause the kingdom thereof to cease, by the hand of Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, and shall utterly overthrow all the strength of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.

Hosea 1:6

And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

Now Israel, thus wasted, shall be, as it were, changed to the condition of a weak and womanish remnant: for the signification whereof, the prophet’s once infamous wife conceived again, and bare a daughter; and God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah, Not obtaining mercy: for Israel, being thus given over by me, shall receive no further mercy from me, but I will utterly leave them to spoil and dispersion, neither shall they be any more a kingdom.

Hosea 1:7

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, by horses, nor by horsemen.

But, as for the house of Judah, I will have mercy upon them, and repair their kingdom; not by any force of arms, nor by the power of any warlike assistance, but by my own effectual inclination of the heart of Cyrus, the king of Persia, whose favour shall re-establish them in their country.

Hosea 1:8

Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.

Now, when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, and God had for some years expected the amendment of his people Israel, Gomer conceived, and bare a son.

Hosea 1:9

Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Then said God, Call his name, Not my people; for I had before cast off Israel from being a kingdom: now I will cast them off from being at all any people of mine; I will not own them for mine any more.

Hosea 1:11

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Then shall my Church be gathered out of all coasts; and out of both Israel and Judah, out of Jews and Gentiles, shall mine elect be called, by the voice of the Gospel; and shall submit themselves to one head, Christ Jesus; and shall be gathered into one Jerusalem, which is above, the mother of us all: oh, how great and glorious shall that day be, wherein, being delivered from the servitude and captivity of sin, they shall be adopted for the Sons of God, and heirs of glory!