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<h1>The King James Version of the Bible</h1>
<h2><SPAN name="Hosea" id="Hosea"></SPAN>Hosea</h2>
<p>1:1 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in
the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in
the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which
conceived, and bare him a son.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>1:5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow
of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.</p>
<p>1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto
him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the
house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>1:8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.</p>
<p>1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and
I will not be your God.</p>
<p>1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to
pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my
people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the
living God.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.</p>
<p>2:2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am
I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her
sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 2:3 Lest I strip
her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her
as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with
thirst.</p>
<p>2:4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the
children of whoredoms.</p>
<p>2:5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them
hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that
give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my
drink.</p>
<p>2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a
wall, that she shall not find her paths.</p>
<p>2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she
say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better
with me than now.</p>
<p>2:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.</p>
<p>2:9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time
thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool
and my flax given to cover her nakedness.</p>
<p>2:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.</p>
<p>2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new
moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.</p>
<p>2:12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath
said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will
make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.</p>
<p>2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned
incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her
jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.</p>
<p>2:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.</p>
<p>2:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of
Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of
her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of
Egypt.</p>
<p>2:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call
me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.</p>
<p>2:17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and
they shall no more be remembered by their name.</p>
<p>2:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts
of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping
things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the
battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.</p>
<p>2:19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth
thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness,
and in mercies.</p>
<p>2:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt
know the LORD.</p>
<p>2:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the
LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; 2:22 And
the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they
shall hear Jezreel.</p>
<p>2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy
upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which
were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art
my God.</p>
<p>3:1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her
friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward
the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of
wine.</p>
<p>3:2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an
homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: 3:3 And I said unto her,
Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and
thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.</p>
<p>3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king,
and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image,
and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 3:5 Afterward shall the
children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David
their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter
days.</p>
<p>4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD
hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is
no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.</p>
<p>4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing
adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.</p>
<p>4:3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth
therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the
fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.</p>
<p>4:4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as
they that strive with the priest.</p>
<p>4:5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall
fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.</p>
<p>4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast
rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no
priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will
also forget thy children.</p>
<p>4:7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will
I change their glory into shame.</p>
<p>4:8 They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on
their iniquity.</p>
<p>4:9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish
them for their ways, and reward them their doings.</p>
<p>4:10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit
whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take
heed to the LORD.</p>
<p>4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.</p>
<p>4:12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth
unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and
they have gone a whoring from under their God.</p>
<p>4:13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense
upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow
thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and
your spouses shall commit adultery.</p>
<p>4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor
your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated
with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people
that doth not understand shall fall.</p>
<p>4:15 Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend;
and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear,
The LORD liveth.</p>
<p>4:16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD
will feed them as a lamb in a large place.</p>
<p>4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.</p>
<p>4:18 Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually:
her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.</p>
<p>4:19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be
ashamed because of their sacrifices.</p>
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