Hosea 1 Study Notes: Hosea’s Marriage and Children
The LORD commands Hosea to marry a prostitute, and he weds Gomer as a sign of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Her three children receive names announcing judgment on Jehu’s dynasty, an end of mercy for Israel, and a broken covenant, followed by a promise that God will again claim His people and reunite Judah and Israel.
General
What does the LORD say He will do, as He explains the name of Hosea’s first son, Jezreel (1:4-5)?
Answer: Punish Jehu’s house for the blood shed at Jezreel
Hosea’s first son is named Jezreel, after the city where King Jehu had wiped out the remaining family of King Ahab (2 Kings 10:11). The LORD says He will soon bring that bloodshed back on Jehu’s own house, bring Israel’s kingdom to its end, and shatter Israel’s military strength in that same valley (1:4-5). In 2 Kings the LORD had commended Jehu for acting against Ahab’s house and promised him four generations of sons on the throne, yet Jehu did not turn from the sins Jeroboam had led Israel into (2 Kings 10:30-31). That promise ran its course, and Zechariah, the last king of Jehu’s line, was murdered, ending the dynasty (2 Kings 15:10, 12).
- Hosea 1:4 (BSB)“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.”The LORD names Hosea’s first son Jezreel and explains the name by coming judgment on Jehu’s dynasty and on Israel’s kingdom.
- Hosea 1:5 (BSB)“And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.””The judgment includes the breaking of Israel’s military strength in the valley that bears the same name.
- 2 Kings 10:11 (BSB)“So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.”This is the slaughter at Jezreel that Hosea’s son’s name recalls: Jehu wiped out what remained of Ahab’s house there.
- 2 Kings 10:30-31 (BSB)“Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.” Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.”The LORD commended Jehu’s action against Ahab’s house and promised four generations, yet Jehu kept walking in Jeroboam’s sins.
- 2 Kings 15:10 (BSB)“Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.”Zechariah, the last king of Jehu’s line, was assassinated by Shallum, ending the dynasty.
- 2 Kings 15:12 (BSB)“So the word of the LORD spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.””The four-generation promise to Jehu is said to have come true with Zechariah’s reign.
Theological
What judgment does the LORD announce through the name Jezreel in 1:4-5?
Answer: Punish Jehu’s house for the blood shed at Jezreel
The name Jezreel recalls the place of Jehu’s purge of Ahab’s house (2 Kings 10:11). Through it the LORD announces that He will visit that bloodshed on Jehu’s dynasty, bring the northern kingdom to an end, and shatter Israel’s military power in that same valley (1:4-5). In 2 Kings the LORD commended Jehu’s action against Ahab and granted four generations on the throne, yet Jehu did not depart from Jeroboam’s sins (2 Kings 10:30-31). The promised four generations were fulfilled, and the dynasty ended when Zechariah was assassinated (2 Kings 15:10, 12).
- Hosea 1:4 (BSB)“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.”The LORD names Hosea’s first son Jezreel and explains the name by coming judgment on Jehu’s dynasty and on Israel’s kingdom.
- Hosea 1:5 (BSB)“And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.””The judgment includes the breaking of Israel’s military strength in the valley that bears the same name.
- 2 Kings 10:11 (BSB)“So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.”This is the slaughter at Jezreel that Hosea’s son’s name recalls: Jehu wiped out what remained of Ahab’s house there.
- 2 Kings 10:30-31 (BSB)“Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.” Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.”The LORD commended Jehu’s action against Ahab’s house and promised four generations, yet Jehu kept walking in Jeroboam’s sins.
- 2 Kings 15:10 (BSB)“Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.”Zechariah, the last king of Jehu’s line, was assassinated by Shallum, ending the dynasty.
- 2 Kings 15:12 (BSB)“So the word of the LORD spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.””The four-generation promise to Jehu is said to have come true with Zechariah’s reign.
General
True or False: In 1:7 the LORD promises to rescue Judah by giving its army more horses and stronger weapons.
Answer: False
This is false. Right after announcing judgment on Israel, the LORD promises compassion and rescue to Judah, but He rules out the usual means of rescue: weapons, battle, horses and horsemen. Judah’s rescue will come from the LORD, their own God (1:7). The psalms teach the same thing: while some rely on chariots and horses, God’s people rely on His name (Psalm 20:7), because no army, warrior or horse can truly save (Psalm 33:16-17). During the reign of Hezekiah, one of the kings named in 1:1, Jerusalem was rescued in just this way, when the LORD defended the city and His angel struck the Assyrian camp (2 Kings 19:34-35).
- Hosea 1:7 (BSB)“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.””In contrast to Israel, Judah is promised compassion and rescue that will come from the LORD rather than from weapons or cavalry.
- Psalm 20:7 (BSB)“Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”The psalmist sets reliance on chariots and horses against reliance on the LORD’s name, the same contrast as 1:7.
- Psalm 33:16-17 (BSB)“No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.”The psalm declares that no army, warrior or horse can bring salvation, which is why Judah’s rescue must come from God.
- 2 Kings 19:34-35 (BSB)“I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’” And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!”In Hezekiah’s day the LORD defended Jerusalem and His angel struck down the Assyrian camp without Judah fighting.
Theological
True or False: According to 1:7, Judah’s promised deliverance would come through military strength the LORD would supply.
Answer: False
This is false. The LORD promises compassion and salvation to Judah while explicitly excluding bow, sword, war, horses and cavalry; the deliverance will come from the LORD, Judah’s own God (1:7). Salvation is God’s own work, not the product of human means, as the psalms confess when they set trust in the LORD’s name against reliance on chariots and horses (Psalm 20:7) and deny that any army or horse can save (Psalm 33:16-17). Jerusalem’s rescue from Assyria under Hezekiah, a king named in 1:1, displays the principle: the LORD defended the city for His own sake, and His angel struck the enemy camp (2 Kings 19:34-35).
- Hosea 1:7 (BSB)“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.””In contrast to Israel, Judah is promised compassion and rescue that will come from the LORD rather than from weapons or cavalry.
- Psalm 20:7 (BSB)“Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”The psalmist sets reliance on chariots and horses against reliance on the LORD’s name, the same contrast as 1:7.
- Psalm 33:16-17 (BSB)“No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.”The psalm declares that no army, warrior or horse can bring salvation, which is why Judah’s rescue must come from God.
- 2 Kings 19:34-35 (BSB)“I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’” And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!”In Hezekiah’s day the LORD defended Jerusalem and His angel struck down the Assyrian camp without Judah fighting.
General
What does Lo-ammi, the name given to the third child, declare about Israel (1:9)?
Answer: The bond between God and Israel had been broken
The LORD explains the third child’s name: Israel is not His people, and He is not their God (1:9). This is the reverse of the promise God made as He prepared to bring Israel out of Egypt, that He would take them as His own people and be their God (Exodus 6:7), a promise repeated in the covenant blessings given through Moses (Leviticus 26:12). That promise was the heart of the covenant, the binding relationship God had made with Israel. By their unfaithfulness the people had broken that covenant, just as Moses had been warned they would (Deuteronomy 31:16). The name Lo-ammi announced that the relationship they had treated so lightly was now set aside in judgment.
- Hosea 1:9 (BSB)“And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.”The third child, a son, is named to declare that Israel is no longer God’s people and He is no longer their God.
- Exodus 6:7 (BSB)“I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”At the exodus God promised to take Israel as His own people and be their God, the promise the name Lo-ammi reverses.
- Leviticus 26:12 (BSB)“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.”The covenant blessings include God walking among Israel as their God with them as His people.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 (BSB)“And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.”Moses was warned that Israel would abandon God and violate the covenant He had made with them.
Theological
What does the LORD’s explanation of the name Lo-ammi in 1:9 announce?
Answer: The bond between God and Israel had been broken
The LORD’s explanation of the name, that Israel is not His people and He is not their God (1:9), deliberately inverts the covenant formula, pledged as God prepared to bring Israel out of Egypt and repeated in the covenant blessings, in which God takes Israel as His own people and is their God (Exodus 6:7; Leviticus 26:12). The sign declares the covenant sanction for Israel’s apostasy: the people who forsook the LORD and broke His covenant, as Moses had foreseen (Deuteronomy 31:16), are now disowned in judgment. The sequence of names thus moves from judgment on the dynasty (Jezreel), to the withdrawal of mercy (Lo-ruhamah), to the severing of the relationship itself (Lo-ammi).
- Hosea 1:9 (BSB)“And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.”The third child, a son, is named to declare that Israel is no longer God’s people and He is no longer their God.
- Exodus 6:7 (BSB)“I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”At the exodus God promised to take Israel as His own people and be their God, the promise the name Lo-ammi reverses.
- Leviticus 26:12 (BSB)“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.”The covenant blessings include God walking among Israel as their God with them as His people.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 (BSB)“And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.”Moses was warned that Israel would abandon God and violate the covenant He had made with them.
General
What reason does the LORD give for the name of Hosea’s daughter, Lo-ruhamah (1:6)?
Answer: He would no longer show compassion to Israel
Gomer’s second child is a girl, and the LORD Himself explains her name: He would stop showing compassion to Israel and would not forgive them (1:6). Her very name was a warning that Israel’s long run of sin had reached the point of judgment. Yet this is not God’s last word. In chapter 2 He promises to show compassion to the one who had been named for having none (2:23). Compassion is God’s free gift, not something people earn; as Paul says, God has compassion on whom He chooses, and it depends on His mercy, not on human desire or effort (Romans 9:15-16). Isaiah likewise speaks of a brief turning away followed by lasting compassion (Isaiah 54:7-8).
- Hosea 1:6 (BSB)“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.”The second child, a daughter, is named to announce that God will stop showing compassion to Israel and forgiving them.
- Hosea 2:23 (BSB)“And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’””Later in the same prophecy God promises to show compassion to the very one named for having none, reversing the sign.
- Romans 9:15-16 (BSB)“For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”Paul cites God’s words to Moses that compassion is His to give as He chooses, resting on His mercy rather than human effort.
- Isaiah 54:7-8 (BSB)““For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.”God speaks of a brief turning away from His people followed by everlasting compassion, the same movement from judgment to mercy.
Theological
What does the LORD declare by naming Hosea’s daughter Lo-ruhamah in 1:6?
Answer: He would no longer show compassion to Israel
The LORD Himself interprets the daughter’s name: He will withdraw His compassion from Israel and will not forgive them (1:6). The sign announces the withdrawal of forgiving mercy as just covenant judgment. Yet the same prophecy later reverses the name, promising compassion to the one called by it (2:23). Both the withholding and the granting belong to God’s sovereign freedom; Paul grounds election in God’s word to Moses that He has compassion on whom He will, so that it rests on His mercy rather than human will or exertion (Romans 9:15-16). Isaiah’s picture of a momentary turning away and everlasting compassion follows the same pattern (Isaiah 54:7-8).
- Hosea 1:6 (BSB)“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.”The second child, a daughter, is named to announce that God will stop showing compassion to Israel and forgiving them.
- Hosea 2:23 (BSB)“And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’””Later in the same prophecy God promises to show compassion to the very one named for having none, reversing the sign.
- Romans 9:15-16 (BSB)“For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”Paul cites God’s words to Moses that compassion is His to give as He chooses, resting on His mercy rather than human effort.
- Isaiah 54:7-8 (BSB)““For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.”God speaks of a brief turning away from His people followed by everlasting compassion, the same movement from judgment to mercy.
General
How does Paul use the promise of 1:10 in Romans 9?
Answer: As proof that God calls a people from Jews and Gentiles
Immediately after the sad name Lo-ammi, God promises the reverse. Israel will become as countless as sand on the shore, just as God promised Abraham (Genesis 22:17), and at the very spot where they had been disowned they will be named sons of the God who lives (1:10). Judah and Israel will be brought together under one leader (1:11). Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9 to show that God has called a people for Himself from among both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9:24-26). Peter says the same to believers: God called them out of darkness, and those who were once not a people now belong to God as His people (1 Peter 2:9-10). God’s call here is effectual, meaning it actually does what it says: it makes people who were not His into His own children.
- Hosea 1:10 (BSB)“Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. 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.’”Directly after the name Lo-ammi, God promises countless descendants and a new name as His sons for those who were disowned.
- Hosea 1:11 (BSB)“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.”The peoples of Judah and Israel will be brought together under one leader.
- Genesis 22:17 (BSB)“I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.”God promised Abraham descendants as countless as grains of sand by the sea, the promise 1:10 says still stands.
- Romans 9:24-26 (BSB)“including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” 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.’””Paul cites Hosea to show that God’s calling reaches Gentiles as well as Jews.
- 1 Peter 2:9-10 (BSB)“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”Peter tells believers that God called them into His light and made them His people when they had not been a people.
Theological
For what purpose does Paul cite the promise of 1:10 in Romans 9:24-26?
Answer: As proof that God calls a people from Jews and Gentiles
The sentence of Lo-ammi is immediately followed by promise: the Abrahamic multitude still stands (1:10; Genesis 22:17), the disowned will be named sons of the God who lives at the very spot where they had been disowned, and Judah and Israel will be reunited under one head (1:11). Paul applies 1:10, together with 2:23, to the vessels of mercy whom God has called from among both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9:24-26), and Peter uses the same reversal for believers called from darkness to God’s light (1 Peter 2:9-10). The call is effectual: God’s summons creates sonship where there was none, so the identity of His people rests on His calling rather than on their prior standing.
- Hosea 1:10 (BSB)“Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. 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.’”Directly after the name Lo-ammi, God promises countless descendants and a new name as His sons for those who were disowned.
- Hosea 1:11 (BSB)“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.”The peoples of Judah and Israel will be brought together under one leader.
- Genesis 22:17 (BSB)“I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.”God promised Abraham descendants as countless as grains of sand by the sea, the promise 1:10 says still stands.
- Romans 9:24-26 (BSB)“including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” 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.’””Paul cites Hosea to show that God’s calling reaches Gentiles as well as Jews.
- 1 Peter 2:9-10 (BSB)“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”Peter tells believers that God called them into His light and made them His people when they had not been a people.
General
According to 1:2, what reason does the LORD give for commanding Hosea’s marriage?
Answer: The land was being unfaithful by turning from the LORD
The very first word the LORD speaks through Hosea is a command to marry a prostitute and to have children born of unfaithfulness. The reason given is about the nation, not about Hosea: the land was being flagrantly unfaithful by turning away from the LORD, like a wife who leaves her husband (1:2). Hosea obeyed and married Gomer (1:3), so his own home became a living picture of Israel’s sin against God. Later the LORD shows what that unfaithfulness looked like: the people seek guidance from wooden idols and are led away from their God (4:12). Scripture had long described idol worship this way. Moses was warned that Israel would chase foreign gods and break covenant, the binding commitment between God and His people (Deuteronomy 31:16), and Israel did just that during the period of the judges (Judges 2:17). Readers differ on whether Gomer was already unfaithful when Hosea married her or became so afterward.
- Hosea 1:2 (BSB)“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.””The LORD’s first word through Hosea commands the marriage and gives the nation’s unfaithfulness as the reason.
- Hosea 1:3 (BSB)“So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”Hosea obeys and marries Gomer, who bears him a son.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 (BSB)“And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.”Moses was told in advance that Israel would turn after foreign gods and break covenant, the very sin Hosea’s marriage pictures.
- Judges 2:17 (BSB)“Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.”Already during the period of the judges, turning to other gods is described as unfaithfulness like prostitution.
- Hosea 4:12 (BSB)“My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.”Later in the book the LORD traces Israel’s idol worship to a spirit that leads them away from their God.
Theological
What ground does 1:2 give for the LORD’s command that Hosea marry a prostitute?
Answer: The land was being unfaithful by turning from the LORD
The opening command of Hosea’s ministry is an enacted sign: the prophet is to marry a prostitute and have children born of unfaithfulness, because the land itself has committed spiritual adultery by turning away from the LORD (1:2). Hosea’s obedience in marrying Gomer (1:3) turns his household into a portrait of the covenant relationship, with the LORD as the wronged husband and Israel as the faithless wife. The imagery rests on earlier Scripture, which foretold and then described Israel’s turning to foreign gods as covenant-breaking prostitution (Deuteronomy 31:16; Judges 2:17), and Hosea later traces the sin to a spirit that leads the people astray (4:12). Readers differ on whether Gomer was already unfaithful at the marriage or became so later.
- Hosea 1:2 (BSB)“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.””The LORD’s first word through Hosea commands the marriage and gives the nation’s unfaithfulness as the reason.
- Hosea 1:3 (BSB)“So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”Hosea obeys and marries Gomer, who bears him a son.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 (BSB)“And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.”Moses was told in advance that Israel would turn after foreign gods and break covenant, the very sin Hosea’s marriage pictures.
- Judges 2:17 (BSB)“Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.”Already during the period of the judges, turning to other gods is described as unfaithfulness like prostitution.
- Hosea 4:12 (BSB)“My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.”Later in the book the LORD traces Israel’s idol worship to a spirit that leads them away from their God.