The book was written roughly between 760 and 720 BC and is about a man who was told by God to marry a woman who would not live with him as she should have done. Even though Hosea brought her back to his house and had some children with her, she kept leaving him and going away to other men. Hosea was told that his story was a picture of the way God's people treated God, by going after other gods (idols) even though God wanted them to stay with Him and love Him. 