Prophet Hosea (Israel)

Hosea son of Beeri prophesied in the northern kingdom from the last years of Jeroboam II until shortly before Samaria fell in −722. God commanded him to marry Gomer daughter of Diblaim, "a wife of harlotry," as a living image of Israel's unfaithfulness, and their children's names were prophecies: Jezreel, for the blood Jehu's dynasty had shed there; Lo-ruhamah, "not pitied"; and Lo-ammi, "not my people." He attacked the calf of Samaria, the shifting alliances with Egypt and Assyria, and priests who "feed on the sin of my people," yet promised that the names would be reversed and the marriage renewed.

His book holds some of the Bible's most tender lines: "When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" and "How can I give you up, Ephraim?" (Hosea 11). Observant Jews recite his words "I will betroth you to me forever... in righteousness and justice, in kindness and mercy" (2:21–22) while winding the tefillin strap around the finger, and his call "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God" (14:2) gives Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath before Yom Kippur, its name.