📖 The Book of Hosea
Start reading →Old Testament · 14 chapters · Prophet
God's unfailing love for an unfaithful people.
Who wrote Hosea?
Author
Hosea
Written
c. 725 BC
Genre
Prophet
Why Hosea was written
Through Hosea's own painful marriage to an unfaithful wife, God illustrates his relationship with Israel — and his refusal to give them up despite their spiritual adultery.
Outline of Hosea
- 11–3: Hosea's marriage as enacted prophecy
- 24–14: Oracles of judgment and restoration
Key verses
Hosea 2:19-20Hosea 6:6Hosea 11:1
How Hosea points to Christ
Matthew 2:15 quotes Hosea 11:1 ('Out of Egypt I called my son') of Jesus, seeing the nation's story recapitulated in Christ. The unfailing love (hesed) Hosea describes reaches its fullest expression in the love of Christ for his church.
How Hosea begins
1The 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.
Read Hosea 1 →