About Hosea

Hosea is the twenty-eighth book of the Bible and the first of the twelve Minor Prophets, written by Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah -- roughly 760-720 BC -- and spanning 14 chapters. Hosea ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel in its final decades before the Assyrian conquest of 722 BC. His entire prophetic ministry was enacted through the painful metaphor of his marriage to an unfaithful wife named Gomer, whose repeated infidelity illustrated Israel's spiritual adultery against God through Baal worship. Yet God commanded Hosea to take Gomer back even after her unfaithfulness -- a living parable of God's relentless, pursuing love for His wayward people. Major themes include God's covenant love (hesed) that persists despite betrayal, the horror of spiritual adultery, the call to genuine repentance versus shallow religiosity, and the promise of future restoration. Key chapters include Hosea 1-3 (Hosea's marriage and its meaning), Hosea 6 (the call to return), and Hosea 11 (God's parental love for Israel). Famous verses include Hosea 6:6 -- For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings -- quoted by Jesus twice in Matthew. Hosea KJV Bible reading reveals a God whose love cannot be exhausted by human faithlessness. Read the Book of Hosea online here in full.

Hosea's plea for mercy over empty sacrifice was quoted twice by Jesus in the Gospels, showing its lasting reach into the New Testament. Its themes of covenant love and judgment sit well alongside Isaiah and Jeremiah among the major and minor prophets.