1. The word of the Lord that came to 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.
2. The beginning of the Lord's conversation with Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea: "Go, take to yourself a wife of fornications, and make for yourself sons of fornications, because, by fornicating, the land will fornicate away from the Lord."
3. And he went out and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.
4. And the Lord said to him: "Call his name Jezreel because, after a little while, I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put the kingdom of the house of Israel to rest.
5. And in that day, I will crush the stronghold of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."
6. And after a while, she conceived and bore a daughter. And he said to him: "Call her name, Without Mercy, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them.
7. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. And I will not save them by bow and sword and battle and horses and horsemen."