Wikipedia's first sentence called it “book of the jewish hebrew bible”. Today it says “one of the books of the twelve minor prophets of the nevi'im”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Book of Hosea is a book of the Jewish Hebrew Bible , known to Christians as the Old Testament written by Hosea . This book stands first in order among the " Minor prophets ." This was the longest of the prophetic books written before the Babylonian captivity . Hosea prophesied in a dark and melancholy period of Israel 's history, the period of the Northern Kingdom's decline and fall in the 8th century BCE . The sins of the people, their priests and their rulers had brought upon them great national disasters. Their various sins (homicide, fornication, perjury, theft, idolatry, impiety and others) are mentioned and criticized. An interpolated list of kings made Hosea into a contemporary of Isaiah . The book may be divided into two parts, the first containing chapters 1-3, and symbolically representing the idolatry of Israel under imagery borrowed from the matrimonial relation; Hosea marries a prostitute , as the Lord said, "The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the Lord." The figures of marriage and adultery are common in the Old Testament writings to represent the spiritual relations between God and the people of Israel. Here we see the apostasy of Israel and their punishment, with their future repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. The second part, containing 4-14, is a summary of Hosea's discourses, filled with denunciations, threatenings, exhortations, promises, and revelations of mercy. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). Nelson and Sons. : Missing or empty |title= ( help )1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17975089.
The opening as it stood in 2010 12 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Book of Hosea is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible .It stands first in order among what are known as the twelve Minor Prophets .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 359915596.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
According to the traditional order of most Hebrew Bibles, it is the first of the twelve Minor Prophets .Set around the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel , the Book of Hosea denounces the worship of gods other than Jehovah, metaphorically comparing Israel's abandonment of Jehovah to a woman being unfaithful to her husband.According to the book's narrative, the relationship between Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer is comparable to the relationship between Yahweh and his unfaithful people Israel.The eventual reconciliation of Hosea and Gomer is treated as a hopeful metaphor for the eventual reconciliation between Yahweh and Israel.Dated to c. 760–720 BCE, it is one of the oldest books of the Hebrew Bible , predating most of the Torah (Pentateuch).Hosea is the source of the phrase reap the whirlwind , which has passed into common usage in English and other languages.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 961259235.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Book of the Hebrew Bible Nevi'im (Prophets) Latter Minor Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Ketuvim (Writings) Five Megillot (Scrolls) Historical Old Testament ( Christianity ) Deuterocanonical Bible portal v t e The Book of Hosea ( ) is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Tanakh , and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament . According to the traditional order of most Hebrew Bibles, it is the first of the Twelve. Set around the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel , the Book of Hosea denounces the worship of gods other than Yahweh (the God of Israel), metaphorically comparing Israel's abandonment of Yahweh to a woman being unfaithful to her husband. According to the book's narrative, the relationship between Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer is comparable to the relationship between Yahweh and his unfaithful people Israel. The eventual reconciliation of Hosea and Gomer is treated as a hopeful metaphor for the eventual reconciliation between Yahweh and Israel. Dated to c. 760–720 BC , it is one of the oldest books of the Tanakh , predating final recensions of the full Torah (Pentateuch). Hosea is the source of the phrase " reap the whirlwind ", which has passed into common usage in English and other languages. The Book of Hosea .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1140449197.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Book of the Hebrew Bible Nevi'im (Prophets) Latter Minor Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Ketuvim (Writings) Five Megillot (Scrolls) Historical Old Testament ( Christianity ) Deuterocanonical Bible portal v t e The Book of Hosea ( Biblical Hebrew : סֵפֶר הוֹשֵׁעַ , romanized: Sēfer Hōšēaʿ ) is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Tanakh , and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament where it has fourteen chapters. According to the traditional order of most Hebrew Bibles, it is the first of the Twelve. Set around the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel , the Book of Hosea denounces the worship of gods other than Yahweh (the God of Israel), metaphorically comparing Israel's abandonment of Yahweh to a woman being unfaithful to her husband. According to the book's narrative, the relationship between Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer is comparable to the relationship between Yahweh and his unfaithful people Israel: this text "for the first time" describes the latter relationship in terms of a marriage . The eventual reconciliation of Hosea and Gomer is treated as a hopeful metaphor for the eventual reconciliation between Yahweh and Israel. Some redaction-critical studies of Hosea since the 1980s have postulated that the theological and literary unity was created by editors, though scholars differ significantly in their interpretations of the redaction process, stages, and the extent of the eighth-century prophet's original contributions.Nevertheless, many scholars agree that the bulk of the book was probably composed around the times of Jeroboam II of Israel (c. 793–753 BC). Hosea is the source of the phrase " reap the whirlwind ", which has passed into common usage in English and other languages. The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets .Hosea: A Textual Commentary .Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion .At the heart of the historical context presumed by the book of Hosea are the realities of Assyrian imperialism in the 8th century BCE.[...] Many scholars see most, if not all, of the book as originating (in either oral or written form) with the 8th-century BCE prophet Hosea Hosea 8:7
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296871022. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “book of the jewish hebrew bible”. Today it says “one of the books of the twelve minor prophets of the nevi'im”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
book of the jewish hebrew bible
Now
one of the books of the twelve minor prophets of the nevi'im
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.