Hosea Devotionals
One for each chapter. Want to test what you read? Take the Hosea quizzes.
- Hosea 1: A New Name for Outsiders
Hosea's ministry begins with a command that is hard to read. The LORD tells him to marry a prostitute, so that his own household becomes a living picture of a land that has been…
- Hosea 2: Thorns Across the Wrong Road
Chapter 2 speaks in the language of a broken marriage. Israel has gone after other lovers, crediting them with her bread and water, her wool and oil (2:5). She never acknowledged…
- Hosea 3: Love That Pays the Price
Chapter 3 is short and costly. The LORD tells Hosea to love his wife again, though she has been unfaithful, and to love her the way the LORD loves Israel even while they turn to…
- Hosea 4: Ruined for Want of Knowing God
The LORD brings a case against Israel, and the charge is grim. There is no faithfulness, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land (4:1), and in their place come…
- Hosea 5: When God Withdraws to Be Sought
God summons the priests, the people, and the royal house together, because all of them have become a trap for the nation (5:1). Nothing is hidden from him (5:3). Their own deeds…
- Hosea 6: Loyalty That Burns Off by Noon
The chapter opens with words that sound like model repentance. Come, the people say, let us return to the LORD; he has wounded us, but he will heal us, and he will come as surely…
- Hosea 7: Calling Everyone but God
Hosea pictures Israel's plotters as an oven. Their anger smolders all night and blazes in the morning, and they devour their rulers. King after king falls, and not one of them…
- Hosea 8: A Harvest Larger Than the Seed
An alarm sounds over Israel for breaking God's covenant and rebelling against his law (8:1). They still claim to know him (8:2), but they have rejected what is good (8:3). They…
- Hosea 9: Becoming Like What We Love
Hosea speaks at harvest time and tells Israel not to rejoice like the nations, because they have been unfaithful to their God (9:1). The threshing floor will not feed them, and…
- Hosea 10: Break Up the Hard Ground
Israel was a thriving vine, but the more fruit it produced, the more altars it built (10:1). Prosperity did not draw them to God. It funded their idols. Their hearts are devious…
- Hosea 11: A Father Who Bends Down
God remembers Israel's beginnings like a father remembering a child. He loved Israel and called his son out of Egypt (11:1). He taught Ephraim to walk, holding them by the arms,…
- Hosea 12: From Grasping to Waiting
Ephraim feeds on the wind, piling up lies and violence and making deals with Assyria and Egypt (12:1). To show them who they have become, the LORD reaches back to their ancestor…
- Hosea 13: Remembering the Only Savior
Ephraim was once honored in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died (13:1). Now they keep making silver idols and kissing calves (13:2), and they will vanish like…
- Hosea 14: Words to Bring Back
Hosea's book of broken love ends with an open door. Israel is called to return to the LORD, because they have stumbled in their sin (14:1). God even supplies the words to bring.…