Osee 1

1 The word of the Lord which came to Osee the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joas, king of Israel.

[I am] Hosea, the son of Beeri. Yahweh gave me these messages [at various times] during the years that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah, and Jeroboam the son of Jehoash was the King of Israel.

2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Osee. And the Lord said to Osee, Go, take to yourself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: for the land will surely go a-whoring in departing from the Lord.

When Yahweh first [began to] give messages to me [to tell to the people of Israel], he said to me, “Go and marry a prostitute. But [some of] her children will be born as a result of her having sex with men to whom she is not married. That will illustrate how the people of Israel have turned away from me and worship (idols/other gods).”

3 So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Debelaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.

So I married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. She became pregnant and gave birth to my son.

4 And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezrael; for yet a little [while], and I will avenge the blood of Jezrael on the house of Juda, and will make to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Yahweh said to me, “Give him the name Jezreel, [which means ‘God scatters’], because I will soon punish the descendants [MTY] of [King] Jehu [by scattering them], because he killed many of my people at Jezreel [town]. [Some day] I will end the kingdom of Israel,

5 And it shall be, in that day, [that] I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael.

by destroying the power [MTY] of [the army of] Israel in Jezreel Valley.”

6 And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And he said to him, Call her name, Unpitied: for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, but will surely set myself in array against them.

[Later] Gomer became pregnant [again], and she gave birth to a daughter. Yahweh said to me “Give her the name Lo-ruhamah, [which means ‘not loved],’ because I will no longer [show that I] love the people [MET] of Israel, and I will not forgive them [for the sins that they have committed].

7 But I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them with bow, nor with sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.

But I will [show that I] love the people [MTY] of Judah [by saving them from their enemies]. However, it will not be by weapons and armies or horses and chariots that I will save them. Instead, it will be by [the power that I], Yahweh their God, [have].”

8 And she weaned Unpitied; and she conceived again, and bore a son.

After Gomer had (weaned/stopped breast-feeding) Lo-ruhamah, she became pregnant again, and she gave birth to another son.

9 And he said, Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my people, and I am not your [God].

Yahweh said “Give him the name Lo-ammi, [which means 'not my people', ] because the people of Israel are no [longer my people], and I am not their God.

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, even they shall be called the sons of the living God.

But [some day] the people of Israel will be [as numerous] as [SIM] the [grains of] sand on the seashore; no one will be able to count them. Now [I] am saying to them, ‘You are not my people,’ but then people will say to them, ‘[You are the] children of God who is all-powerful.’

11 And the children of Juda shall be gathered, and the children of Israel together, and shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land: for great [shall be] the day of Jezrael.

[At that time], the people of Judah and the people of Israel will unite. They will appoint one leader for all of them, and they will return from the countries [to which they have been (exiled/forced to go)]. That will be a great time; Jezreel [also means ‘God plants’, and it will be as though God will plant them in this country again].”