ScriptureParty › Lesson Helps › Week 47, 2026

Hosea 1–6; 10–14; Joel: I Will Love Them Freely

Come Follow Me · Week 47 · November 16–November 22, 2026 · Hosea 14:4, 2:19, 6:6, 11:4, Joel 2:13, 2:28-29

Experience God's unfailing love through Hosea's powerful marriage metaphor and Joel's promise of the Spirit poured out on all flesh

Play this lesson as a family game

This week's lesson is ready to play as a live group game — 30 questions across 12 game types, built from these exact chapters. Everyone plays from their phone; the game shows on your TV. Free for up to 5 players, no account needed.

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Family discussion questions

Use these around the dinner table, in Sunday School, or for companionship study — each comes from this week's chapters.

  1. How does God's response to unfaithful Israel change the way you think about your own mistakes? Is it hard to believe God welcomes you back this freely?
  2. What does it mean to you that God loves 'freely' — not because you earned it, but because that's who He is?
  3. How does knowing God's love has no conditions change the way you think about repentance?
  4. Which of these three promises speaks most powerfully to where you are in life right now?
  5. Why do you think it's often harder to accept that God loves us freely than to try to earn His love? What makes free love so hard to receive?
  6. God says He will 'heal their backsliding.' What does spiritual healing look like in practice?
  7. Hosea experienced heartbreak so he could understand God's heart. How does personal suffering sometimes help us understand God better?
  8. What does Hosea's story teach about how God views our unfaithfulness versus how the world views it?

Sample questions from this week's game

Someone you love deeply has been unfaithful to their promises to you — again and again. They've chased after other things and left you heartbroken. Now they want to come back. God compares His covenant with Israel to this situation. What does God do?

Hosea 14:4

Show answer

Say 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely' and welcome them back with open arms — The entire book of Hosea is a love story about God's relentless love for unfaithful Israel. Despite being betrayed again and again, God's response isn't bitterness or rejection — it's 'I will love them freely.' He doesn't just tolerate their return; He actively heals, restores, and rejoices over them. This is the character of our God: love that never gives up.

True or False: In Hosea 14:4, God promises to 'love them freely' — meaning His love for returning sinners has no conditions attached.

Hosea 14:4

Show answer

True — True! God declares, 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.' The word 'freely' means voluntarily, generously, without strings attached. God doesn't love us because we earned it — He loves us because that's who He is. Even after Israel's unfaithfulness, God's love remained freely offered to anyone who would return.

Read the lesson

This week covers Hosea 14:4, 2:19, 6:6, 11:4, Joel 2:13, 2:28-29. Read the chapters at churchofjesuschrist.org.

← Week 46: Daniel 1–7: There Is No Other God That Can Deliver