American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit,
that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
For I could {Or, pray}wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the {Or, flesh; he who is over all, God, be blessed for ever.}flesh, who is over all, God blessed {Greek: unto the ages.}for ever. Amen.
But it is not as though the word of God hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel:
neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but, {Genesis 21:12}In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.
For this is a word of promise, {Genesis 18:10}According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac—
for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,
it was said unto her, {Genesis 25:23}The elder shall serve the younger.
Even as it is written, {Malachi 1:2 f}Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, {Exodus 33:19}I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, {Exodus 9:16}For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth.
So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will be hardeneth.
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will?
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?
Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
What if God, {Or, although willing}willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction:
{Some ancient authorities omit and.}and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory,
even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
As he saith also in Hosea, {Hosea 2:23}I will call that my people, which was not my people;And her beloved, that was not beloved.
{Hosea 1:10}And it shall be, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people,There shall they be called sons of the living God.
And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, {Isaiah 10:22 f.}If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved:
for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.
And, as Isaiah hath said before, {Isaiah 1:9}Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,We had become as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah.
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith:
but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
Wherefore? {Or, Because, doing it not by faith, but as it were by works, they stumbled}Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling;
even as it is written, {Isaiah 28:16}Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence:And he that believeth on {Or, it}him shall not be put to shame.
Say ye unto your brethren, {That is, My people.}Ammi; and to your sisters, {That is, That hath obtained mercy.}Ruhamah.
Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
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.
Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;
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 {Hebrew: drinks.}drink.
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.
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.
For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they {Or, made into the image of Baal}used for Baal.
Therefore will I {Or, return, and take away}take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
And now will I uncover her {Or, shame}lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her {Or, appointed feasts}solemn assemblies.
And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, {Or, wherein she burned incense to them}unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her {Or, nose-rings}earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak {Hebrew: to her heart.}comfortably unto her.
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of {That is, Troubling.}Achor for a door of hope; and she {Or, sing}shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me {That is, My husband.}Ishi, and shalt call me no more {That is, My master.}Baali.
For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be {Or, remembered}mentioned by their name.
And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely.
And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah.
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;
and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer {Or, That is, Whom God soweth.}Jezreel.
And I will sow her unto me in the {Or, land}earth; and I will have mercy upon {Hebrew: Lo-ruhamah. See chapter 1:6.}her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to {Hebrew: Lo-ammi. See chapter 1:9, 10.}them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
The word of Jehovah 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.
When Jehovah spake at the first {Or, with}by Hosea, Jehovah said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom; for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from Jehovah.
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bare him a son.
And Jehovah said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will {Hebrew: visit.}avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And Jehovah said unto him, Call her name {That is, That hath not obtained mercy.}Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, that I should in any wise pardon them.
But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
And Jehovah said, Call his name {That is, Not my people.}Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be {Hebrew: for you.}your God.
{[Chapter 2:1 in Hebrew]}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, {Or, instead of that which was said}in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.