Hosea study section

Hosea chapter summaries

A one-line summary of every chapter. Open any chapter for the full study.

Chapter list

Chapters 1–3

Hosea’s marriage to unfaithful Gomer as a living parable of God’s love for wayward Israel.

Chapter 1 (c. 750 BC): Hosea marries Gomer, and their children’s names signify judgment on unfaithful Israel.
Chapter 2 (c. 750 BC): God’s charge against adulterous Israel, and His tender promise to woo her back and betroth her forever.
Chapter 3 (c. 750 BC): Hosea redeems his adulterous wife, a picture of God’s persistent love for Israel.

Chapters 4–14

Alternating oracles of judgment on Israel’s guilt and God’s relentless, wounded love calling them to return.

Chapter 4 (c. 745 BC): God’s controversy with Israel: no faithfulness, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
Chapter 5 (c. 740 BC): Judgment on the pride of Israel and Judah, who will seek the LORD too late.
Chapter 6 (c. 740 BC): A shallow call to return, met by God’s desire for steadfast love and not sacrifice.
Chapter 7 (c. 735 BC): Israel’s inner corruption and foolish reliance on foreign alliances.
Chapter 8 (c. 735 BC): “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind”; Israel’s idolatry and forgotten Maker.
Chapter 9 (c. 730 BC): The coming exile as the harvest of Israel’s sin.
Chapter 10 (c. 730 BC): Israel’s guilt exposed, and a call to sow righteousness and seek the LORD.
Chapter 11 (c. 730 BC): God’s fatherly love: “When Israel was a child, I loved him... out of Egypt I called my son.”
Chapter 12 (c. 730 BC): Israel’s deceit contrasted with Jacob’s striving, and a call to return to God.
Chapter 13 (c. 725 BC): Israel’s ingratitude and coming judgment, yet God’s promise of power over death.
Chapter 14 (c. 725 BC): A final call to return, and God’s promise to heal their apostasy and love them freely.