The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
    Hosea, from the northern Kingdom, was given a message for Israel to whom he characteristically referred by the name of its leading tribe, Ephraim (Hosea 4:17; Hosea 5:3, Hosea 5:5, etc). He preached to his own people for half a century or more about 760-710 BC (Hosea 1:1). 