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How Shall I Give Thee Up?

Through a prophet’s broken marriage, the Lord showed how far His covenant love will go to bring His people home

  • 📖 Adult Sunday School
  • Week 47
  • 📅 Sunday, November 22, 2026
🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

The Lord’s covenant love is faithful even when we are not: He grieves when we wander, seeks us in the wilderness, buys us back, and whenever we turn to Him with our whole heart, He heals, loves us freely, and restores what we thought was lost.

I can turn back to the Lord with my whole heart, trust that He loves me freely, and draw others toward Him with bands of love.

Study it yourself firstRead Hosea 1–6; 10–14; Joel in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Hosea 1–6; 10–14; Joel)
Know the chapters

Hosea preached in the northern kingdom of Israel in the decades before Assyria destroyed it in 722 BC, beginning in the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (Hosea 1:1). Israel was comfortable and religiously mixed, worshipping the Lord and Baal side by side and crediting Baal, a fertility god, for the rain and harvests. Hosea’s central image is a marriage. The Lord had made a covenant with Israel as a husband with a bride, and Israel had been unfaithful. The book calls Israel by the name of its leading tribe, Ephraim, and speaks to Judah in the south as well.

This lesson centers on Hosea 1–3. The Lord asked Hosea to marry Gomer, who would be unfaithful, and to give their children names that announced Israel’s broken covenant: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah (“not pitied”) and Lo-ammi (“not my people”) (1:3–9). Yet in the next breath the Lord promised that the people called “not my people” would be called “the sons of the living God” (1:10). He would lead her into the wilderness, “speak comfortably unto her,” and make the valley of Achor, whose name means trouble, “a door of hope” (2:14–15). Hosea then went and bought his wife back for fifteen pieces of silver and some barley (3:1–2), a picture of the Redeemer paying to bring back what was His. Paul and Peter both saw the promise of Hosea 2:23 fulfilled in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 9:25–26; 1 Peter 2:10).

The rest of the block keeps coming back to that love. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him” (11:1); “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love” (11:4); “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” (11:8); “I will ransom them from the power of the grave” (13:14), words Paul echoes about the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:55); and finally, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely” (14:4). Joel, whose date is uncertain, describes a devastating locust plague and calls the people to “rend your heart, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13), promising, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (2:25). Moroni quoted Joel 2:28–32 to Joseph Smith in 1823 and said it would soon be fulfilled (Joseph Smith—History 1:41).

Twenty-five minutes goes fast. Tell Hosea’s story with care, spend real time on Hosea 11 and 14, and use Joel 2 for the second discussion. The outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2:28 is ready as a bonus step.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Hosea 1–3, 11:1–9, 14:1–4 and Joel 2:12–13, 25 once. Open by asking the difference between being dragged and being drawn. Walk through Hosea’s marriage, then read Hosea 14:4 together and ask what “love them freely” means. Spend most of the time on Hosea 11. Close with Joel 2:25, invite one or two testimonies, and ask each person to turn back to the Lord in one specific way this week.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Read Hosea 1–3 straight through, then Hosea 11 and 14, then Joel 2. Watch for Hosea 2:14–15, 11:4, 11:8 and 14:4; they carry the lesson.
  2. Ask two people ahead of time to read: one as Hosea (1:3 and 3:2–3) and one as the Reader (2:5). A quick Saturday text is plenty, and let them know the story is sensitive.
  3. Bring a soft cord or scarf. You’ll hold it up in the opening and again at the end.
  4. Think of your own honest answer to “Who drew you back toward the Lord at some point, and how?” If the room is quiet, you go first.
  5. Pick the two or three questions you most want to reach in each discussion. Let the rest go.

Discussion tips

  • Handle Hosea’s marriage with care. Someone in the room may have been betrayed by a spouse. Say plainly that Hosea’s marriage is a picture of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness to Israel, not a rule that anyone must stay in an unfaithful or abusive relationship. Keep the focus on the Lord’s love, not on Gomer’s sins.
  • Quiet class? Hosea 11:1–4 is tender and easy to picture. Read it, give thirty seconds of quiet, and send the first question to pairs.
  • One voice filling every pause? Thank them warmly, then say, “Let’s hear from someone who hasn’t had a chance yet,” and wait.
  • Parents of children who have left the Church may feel Hosea 11 deeply. Let them. You don’t need to promise outcomes; you can testify that the Lord’s love for their children is at least as fierce as theirs.
  • Visitors and new members: explain that Hosea uses marriage as a picture of a covenant, show references on the shared screen, and never ask anyone to read aloud without checking first.

The 25-minute plan25 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Each “On the screen” line is what the class sees on a shared screen in Teach Mode in the Gospel Sparks app; on paper, read it aloud or write it on the board. On the web you can play Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

Dragged or Drawn

3 min

Opens with the difference between force and love in bringing someone home, before anyone opens Hosea.

  1. Hold up the cord or scarf.
  2. SAY“Hosea says the Lord brings His people back ‘with cords of a man, with bands of love.’”
  3. Ask: “What’s the difference between being dragged somewhere and being drawn?”
  4. Take two or three answers, then ask: “Who drew you back toward the Lord at some point in your life, and how did they do it?” Take one or two.
  5. SAY“Today we’ll see how far the Lord Himself will go to draw His people home.”

On the screen: 🪢 What’s the difference between being dragged and being drawn?

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A soft cord, rope or scarf about three feet long

Bands of Love

  1. SAY“Hosea says the Lord brings His people back ‘with cords of a man, with bands of love.’”
  2. Ask: “What’s the difference between being dragged somewhere and being drawn?”
  3. Take two or three answers, then ask: “Who drew you back toward the Lord at some point, and how?”
  4. SAY“Today we’ll see how far the Lord Himself will go to draw His people home.”
2. Story

Read It in Context: A Marriage That Became a Message

6 min

Reads Hosea 1–3 as a living parable of the Lord’s faithful love for an unfaithful people.

  1. Open Teach Mode to the scripture scene. The shared screen shows one scene at a time.
  2. Before scene 2, say briefly: “This is a hard story. The point is not Gomer’s sins but the Lord’s faithfulness.”
  3. Read each scene’s context yourself, then let the assigned voices read the verses. You read the Lord’s words; no one is assigned to speak as the Lord.
  4. Keep it moving: context, verses, next scene. Save comments for the discussion.
  5. After scene 6, let a few seconds of quiet pass.

On the screen: 💍 Hosea 1–3: an unfaithful bride, a door of hope, and a price paid to bring her home · Follow along in Hosea 1–3

3. Scripture

Love Them Freely

4 min

Studies Hosea 14:4 closely so class members see what the Lord asks of the returning and what He freely gives.

  1. Ask a volunteer to read Hosea 14:1–4 while the class follows along.
  2. SAY“With the person next to you, find what Israel is asked to bring, and what the Lord promises to give.”
  3. After a minute, draw it out: they bring words and a turned heart (verse 2); He heals their backsliding and loves them freely (verse 4).
  4. Ask: “What does ‘love them freely’ mean to someone who feels they have used up their chances?”
  5. Share Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s words (in “From general conference” below).

On the screen: 💞 “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.” · Hosea 14:1–4 · What do we bring? What does He give?

4. Talk it over

How Shall I Give Thee Up?

6 min

Helps adults feel how the Lord sees them and those they love, through Hosea’s tenderest chapter.

  1. Ask a volunteer to read Hosea 11:1–4 and 11:8–9.
  2. Point out the picture in verse 3: a parent holding a toddler by the arms as the child learns to walk.
  3. Pick two or three questions. Start the third one in pairs for a minute, then invite a few to share.
  4. Count to seven in your head before rescuing a silence.
💬 Ask the class
  • Hosea 11:1–4 pictures a parent teaching a small child to walk. What does that image tell you about how the Lord sees you?
  • Verse 3 says, “they knew not that I healed them.” When have you realized only later that the Lord had been helping you?
  • In verse 8 the Lord says His heart is turned within Him. What does it mean to you that God feels this deeply about His people? (Talk with a neighbor first.)
  • Hosea 2:8 says Israel didn’t know who had given them their blessings. What do we sometimes credit for blessings that really come from the Lord?
  • How can the way the Lord treats Israel in Hosea shape the way we treat people who have walked away?

On the screen: 👣 “I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms.” · Hosea 11:1–4, 8–9

5. Talk it over

Rend Your Heart

4 min

Uses Joel’s locust plague and promise to show that real repentance is inward and that the Lord restores what was lost.

  1. Give the context: Joel describes a locust plague that stripped the land bare, wave after wave (Joel 1:4).
  2. Read Joel 2:12–13 and then 2:25 aloud.
  3. Explain that tearing one’s clothes was an outward sign of grief in ancient Israel.
  4. Ask one or two questions, then move to the testimony on time.
💬 Ask the class
  • What is the difference between rending our garments and rending our hearts? What might the “garments” version of repentance look like today?
  • What years or losses have you seen the Lord restore, sometimes in unexpected ways?
  • Joel says the Lord is “slow to anger, and of great kindness.” How does believing that make it easier to turn back?

On the screen: 🦗 Rend your heart, and not your garments. I will restore the years the locust hath eaten. · Joel 2:12–13, 25

6. Testimony

Bands of Love

2 min

Ends with testimony of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer who paid to bring us home, and a concrete invitation for the week.

  1. Hold up the cord again and read Hosea 14:4.
  2. Invite one or two people to share, in a sentence or two, how the Lord has drawn them back or restored something they had lost.
  3. Bear a short testimony that Jesus Christ paid the price to bring us home, that He will ransom us from the grave (Hosea 13:14), and that His love is freely given.
  4. Invite: “This week, turn back to the Lord in one specific way, and draw one person closer with bands of love, not pressure.”

On the screen: 🏡 “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.” · Hosea 14:4 · This week: turn back in one way. Draw one person with love.

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A soft cord, rope or scarf about three feet long

  1. Read Hosea 14:4.
  2. Invite one or two people to share, in a sentence or two, how the Lord has drawn them back or restored something they had lost.
  3. Bear a short testimony that Jesus Christ paid the price to bring us home, that He will ransom us from the grave (Hosea 13:14), and that His love is freely given.
  4. Invite: “This week, turn back to the Lord in one specific way, and draw one person closer with bands of love, not pressure.”
7. Talk it over

Your Sons and Your Daughters

5 minBONUS

Traces Joel’s promise of the Spirit poured out on all flesh from Pentecost to the Restoration.

  1. Read Joel 2:28–32.
  2. Read Acts 2:16–18, where Peter quotes Joel on the day of Pentecost.
  3. Read Joseph Smith—History 1:41, where Moroni quotes the same passage in 1823 and says it will soon be fulfilled.
  4. Ask one or two questions.
💬 Ask the class
  • Joel names sons and daughters, old men and young men, servants and handmaids. What does that list say about who can receive the Spirit?
  • Where have you seen the Spirit poured out on ordinary people in your ward or family?
  • Why do you think Moroni chose this prophecy to share with a seventeen-year-old Joseph Smith?

On the screen: 🕊️ I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. · Joel 2:28–32 · Acts 2:16–18; Joseph Smith—History 1:41

8. Game

Scripture Showdown

5 minBONUS

A light, friendly review if you finish early.

  1. Split the room down the middle into two teams.
  2. Launch Scripture Showdown on your phone or tablet and read each question aloud.
  3. After each reveal, read the reference so people can mark it.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

On the screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown: how well do you know Hosea and Joel?

Read it together

A Marriage That Became a Message

Hosea 1–3 ↗

Reading parts

  • HoseaReads Hosea’s own words in Hosea 1:3 and 3:2–3.
  • ReaderReads Hosea 2:5, the unfaithful wife’s reasoning.
  • The ClassEveryone reads the people’s answer at the end of Hosea 2:23: “Thou art my God.”

Scenes

  1. 👑 A prosperous kingdom drifting away

    Around 750 BC the northern kingdom of Israel is prosperous and comfortable. People still worship the Lord, but they also worship Baal and credit him for the rain and the harvests. Assyria is only a few decades from destroying them.

    🎬 The teacher reads this context. No scripture yet.

  2. 💍 A marriage that becomes a message

    The Lord asks Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer, who will not be faithful to him. His own home will become a living parable of the Lord and His covenant people.

    🎬 The teacher reads Hosea 1:2. Hosea reads verse 3.

  3. 👶 Children with painful names

    Their children are given names that announce Israel’s broken covenant, including “not pitied” and “not my people.” But the chapter doesn’t end there.

    🎬 The teacher summarizes Hosea 1:4–9, then reads verse 10 slowly.

  4. 🌾 She did not know who fed her

    The wife chases other lovers, convinced they are the ones who provide for her. Israel did the same with Baal. The Lord’s reply is almost heartbroken.

    🎬 The Reader reads Hosea 2:5. The teacher reads 2:8.

  5. 🚪 A door of hope

    Instead of giving up, the Lord says He will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. The valley of Achor, whose name means trouble, will become a door of hope.

    🎬 The teacher reads Hosea 2:14–15 and 2:19–20. The teacher reads 2:23; the Class answers with its last words.

  6. 🪙 Bought back for fifteen pieces of silver

    The Lord tells Hosea to go and love her again. He finds her and pays to bring her home, and makes a promise of faithfulness to her.

    🎬 The teacher reads Hosea 3:1. Hosea reads 3:2–3. Let a few seconds of quiet follow.

Key verse

Hosea 14:4 ↗
“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”
In plain words: When His people turn back, the Lord doesn’t make them earn their way home. He heals what pulled them away and loves them freely, as a gift.

More verses

Hosea 11:8 ↗
“How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.”
In plain words: The Lord speaks like a parent who cannot bring Himself to let His child go. Admah and Zeboim were cities destroyed with Sodom; He cannot bear that for His people.
Hosea 11:4 ↗
“I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.”
In plain words: The Lord doesn’t drag His people. He draws them gently, lifts their burdens, and feeds them.
Joel 2:13 ↗
“And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”
In plain words: Tearing your clothes was a sign of sorrow. The Lord wants the real thing: a changed heart. And He is quick to welcome anyone who turns.
Joel 2:25 ↗
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
In plain words: The Lord promises to give back what was stripped away, even years that seemed lost for good.

Scripture Showdown7 questions

  1. What was the name of Hosea’s wife?
    • A. Gomer
    • B. Ruth
    • C. Jezebel
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Gomer Hosea 1:3: “he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim.”

  2. What did Hosea pay to bring his wife back?
    • A. Thirty pieces of silver
    • B. Fifteen pieces of silver and barley
    • C. A field and a vineyard
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Fifteen pieces of silver and barley Hosea 3:2: fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of barley.

  3. Hosea 2:15: the valley of Achor would become a door of…
    • A. mercy
    • B. peace
    • C. hope
    Show answer

    ✅ C. hope “The valley of Achor for a door of hope.” Achor means trouble.

  4. In Hosea 11:4, how does the Lord say He drew Israel?
    • A. With a shepherd’s rod
    • B. With bands of love
    • C. With iron chains
    Show answer

    ✅ B. With bands of love “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.”

  5. Finish Hosea 14:4: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them…”
    • A. freely
    • B. again
    • C. always
    Show answer

    ✅ A. freely “I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”

  6. What stripped the land bare in the book of Joel?
    • A. Frogs
    • B. Hail
    • C. Locusts
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Locusts Joel 1:4 describes wave after wave of locusts eating what the last wave left.

  7. Joel 2:13 says to rend your heart, and not your…
    • A. garments
    • B. altars
    • C. covenants
    Show answer

    ✅ A. garments “Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.”

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

From general conference

“However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love.”

— Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Laborers in the Vineyard,” April 2012

Share in Love Them Freely, after the class finds what the Lord promises in Hosea 14:4.

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • Israel, Israel, God Is Calling Hymns, no. 7

    A hymn of the Lord calling His scattered people home, Hosea’s message set to music. Find it ↗

  • I Need Thee Every Hour Hymns, no. 98

    A quiet hymn of turning to the Lord with the whole heart. Find it ↗

This week’s invitation

Bands of Love

This week, turn back to the Lord in one specific way: a prayer you’ve been avoiding, a habit you’ve let slip, a sin you’re ready to bring to Him. Then draw one person closer with bands of love, not pressure: a visit, an invitation or a kind word with no strings attached.

Take it home

In Sunday School we read how the Lord used Hosea’s marriage to show His faithful love for Israel, even when Israel wandered, and promised, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely” (Hosea 14:4). Take it home: read Hosea 11:1–4 together and talk about how a parent teaching a toddler to walk is like the way Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ help us.

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

☁️ Goodness Like a Morning Cloud · 4 min

  1. Read Hosea 6:1–6. Israel’s goodness was “as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”
  2. Read Matthew 9:13, where Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6: “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”
  3. Ask: “What helps our goodness last past the morning?”

🌱 Break Up Your Fallow Ground · 3 min

  1. Read Hosea 10:12. Fallow ground is land left unplowed, hard and unready for seed.
  2. Ask: “What part of your spiritual life has gone fallow? What would breaking it up look like this week?”

🌅 O Grave, Where Is Thy Victory? · 3 min

  1. Read Hosea 13:14: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave.”
  2. Read 1 Corinthians 15:55–57, where Paul echoes Hosea in his testimony of the Resurrection.
  3. Ask: “How does the Savior’s victory over the grave change how we face loss?”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

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