Includes bibliographical references (pages 15-18) and index.

Introduction -- The book of twelve -- Hosea and his circumstances -- The historical context and development of Hosea's message -- Hosea's relation to the religious traditions of the Northern Kingdom -- The book: its character, compilation, redaction and text -- An analysis of the book's contents -- Commentary of Hosea -- Title (1:1) -- Hosea's children and their names (1:2--2:1) -- Yahweh's marriage: oracles of judgment and renewal (2:2-23) -- Excursus: Baal in the Ugaritic texts -- Excursus: hesed -- The disciplining of the beloved (3:1-5) -- Excursus: Hosea's marriage -- The effects of priestly negligence: a people without knowledge of God (4:1-19) -- Judgment on the leaders of a faithless people (5:1-7) -- Oracles from the Syro-Ephraimite war (5:8--6:3) -- Oracles about political life (6:4--7:16) -- A catalogue of Israel's sins (8:1-14) -- The coming end of festal worship (9:1-9) -- A sinful history begets a barren future (9:10-17) -- Doom for king and high place (10:1-8) -- Two oracles of coming war (10:9-15) -- Divine love -- slighted but not extinguished (11:1-11) -- Death and new life for guilty Israel (11:12--12:14) -- Death is unavoidable for guilty Israel (13:1-16) -- Two sayings on renewal (14:1--8).