Includes bibliographical references.

The title: 1.1 -- Divine word and human life: 1.2-9 -- The day of Jezreel: 1.10--2.1 -- Yahweh and his wife: 2.2-15 -- The day of restoration: 2.16-23 -- The way of love: 3.1-5 -- God's case against the land: 4.1-3 -- God's case against the priests: 4.4-10 -- God's indictment of the cult: 4.11-14 -- The liturgy of the lost: 4.15-19 -- The leaders have led astray: 5.1-2 -- The prophet's priestly word: 5.3-7 -- War among brothers is sin and judgment: 5.8--6.6 -- A geography of treachery: 6.7--7.2 -- "All the kings have fallen": 7.3-7 -- Ephraim among the nations: 7.8-12 -- No help for the rebels: 7.13-16 -- Of gods and governments: 8.1-14 -- From mirth to mourning: 9.1-6 -- The fool for God: 9.7-9 -- The fall to Baal: 9.10-14 -- Leaders who mislead: 9.15-17 -- They shall dwell without cult or king:10.1-8 -- The double iniquity: 10.9-10 -- The farm of God:10.11-13a -- They that take the sword: 10.13b-15 -- The divine Father: 11.1-11 -- A policy of futility: 11.12--12.1 -- Israel at the Jabbok: 12.2-6 -- Israelite or Canaanite? 12.7-11 -- Patriarch or prophet? 12.12-14 -- Today with Baal- no tomorrow:13.1-3 -- The shepherd shall destroy the flock:13.4-8 -- If God be against us ... : 13:9-11 -- Let death take over:13.12-16 -- The therapy of love:14.1-8 -- Instruction for the reader:14.9.

As spokesman for God and because of his role in the history of Israel's religion, Hosea is a crucial figure in the Old Testament. He stands near the source of a current of faith and tradition that flows to Jeremiah and Deuteronomy. None surpasses him in the passion and creativeness of his prophecy. He spoke out of a feeling of identification with his God that carries a convincing authenticity. He was a man of tremendous emotional range, able at least to reflect in his own feelings the gamut of divine wrath and compassion. Through his sayings and person Yahweh, the God of Israel, wages his final battle against Baal for the soul of Israel. - Introduction.