Early morning over the wide Valley of Jezreel: freshly sown furrows close in the foreground with a few seed-heads of last year’s straw, the low ridge of Jezreel far off, a calm pale sky above.

’s marriage

Hosea 1

Israel was rich and secure under Jeroboam II. What would your name say about the times you live in?

11 verses≈ 3 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3Hosea’s marriageA wife, three names, and love bought backChapter 1
4–6:3The LORD’s caseNo knowledge of God in the land
6–11Sowing the windMist, kings, calves, and a love that won’t let go
11–14Return, O IsraelJacob’s story, death undone, and the last call

Hosea’s Wife and Children

This is the word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel.

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God

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

God

Dusk on the stony slope below Jezreel: a warrior’s bow of horn and wood lies snapped in two beside an empty quiver, the wide valley dimming below, no one there.

Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

God

Gomer again conceived and gave birth to a daughter, and the LORD said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them.

God

First light on a hillside facing Jerusalem: a small war chariot standing empty, its two horses unhitched and grazing, a bow and a sword laid on the grass beside it, the city quiet across the valley.

Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God.”

God

After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, Gomer conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.

Three names

Whiteboard

Each name is a warning. Each one will be turned around.

Reflect

Hosea’s children carried God’s message in their names. What does your life say about God to the people who know you?

God

God

Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted.

God

And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

Hosea 1:10

God

God

Then the people of Judah and of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and will go up out of the land. For great will be the day of Jezreel.

Question

Quick question

The LORD gave Hosea’s third child a name that was a sign.

What does Lo-ammi mean?

You’ve experienced

Hosea 1

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A verse to carry with you

And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

Hosea 1:10

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