When the LORD first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to Hosea, "Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her. In the same way my people have left me and become unfaithful."

So Hosea married a woman named Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. After the birth of their first child, a son,

The LORD says, "If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he cannot take her back again. This would completely defile the land. But, Israel, you have had many lovers, and now you want to return to me!

But like an unfaithful wife, you have not been faithful to me. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Jesus answered, "Be quick about it, friend!" Then they came up, arrested Jesus, and held him tight.

"How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong.

Do this because you belong to the LORD your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

"The LORD did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

So they got rid of their foreign gods and worshiped the LORD; and he became troubled over Israel's distress.

but the LORD was kind and merciful to them. He would not let them be destroyed, but helped them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has never forgotten his people.

They made an idol in the shape of a bull-calf and said it was the god who led them from Egypt! How much they insulted you, LORD!

But you did not abandon them there in the desert, for your mercy is great. You did not take away the cloud or the fire that showed them the path by day and night.

And yet, because your mercy is great, you did not forsake or destroy them. You are a gracious and merciful God!

Many times the LORD rescued his people, but they chose to rebel against him and sank deeper into sin.

For their sake he remembered his covenant, and because of his great love he relented.

The LORD says, "If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he cannot take her back again. This would completely defile the land. But, Israel, you have had many lovers, and now you want to return to me!

That is why the rains were held back, and the spring showers did not come. You even look like a prostitute; you have no shame.

He told me to go and say to Israel, "Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you forever.

"Unfaithful people, come back; you belong to me. I will take one of you from each town and two from each clan, and I will bring you back to Mount Zion.

"Israel, you are my dearest child, the one I love best. Whenever I mention your name, I think of you with love. My heart goes out to you; I will be merciful.

There is no other god like you, O LORD; you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love.

You will show your faithfulness and constant love to your people, the descendants of Abraham and of Jacob, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

So I have come back to Jerusalem to show mercy to the city. My Temple will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt."

He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors, and has come to the help of his servant Israel.

He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham and to all his descendants forever!"

As a servant depends on his master, as a maid depends on her mistress, so we will keep looking to you, O LORD our God, until you have mercy on us.

When that day comes, people will turn for help to their Creator, the holy God of Israel.

They will no longer rely on the altars they made with their own hands, or trust in their own handiwork---symbols of the goddess Asherah and altars for burning incense.

"Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.

But I will watch for the LORD; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me.

The LORD says, "Wine, both old and new, is robbing my people of their senses!

On the day of the king's celebration they made the king and his officials drunk and foolish with wine.

People of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans. You have turned away from your God and have been unfaithful to him. All over the land you have sold yourselves like prostitutes to the god Baal and have loved the grain you thought he paid you with!

But soon you will not have enough grain and olive oil, and there will be no wine.

Early the next morning they brought some animals to burn as sacrifices and others to eat as fellowship offerings. The people sat down to a feast, which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex.

They all went out into their vineyards and picked the grapes, made wine from them, and held a festival. They went into the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and made fun of Abimelech.

At every place of worship people sleep on clothing that they have taken from the poor as security for debts. In the temple of their God they drink wine which they have taken from those who owe them money.

You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest perfumes, but you do not mourn over the ruin of Israel.

nor to worship idols, as some of them did. As the scripture says, "The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex."

You cannot drink from the Lord's cup and also from the cup of demons; you cannot eat at the Lord's table and also at the table of demons.

You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols.