Hosea 1:10

'Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, it shall be said to them, Children of the living God' — the verse reverses the symbolic judgment name 'Lo-Ammi' (Not My People, 1:9) and combines two Abrahamic promises: innumerable descendants (Genesis 22:17) and restored covenant identity. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9:25–26 alongside Hosea 2:23 to argue that God's inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God was prefigured in Israel's own prophetic tradition. The phrase 'children of the living God' (benei El chai) is a rare and exalted covenantal title, suggesting that restoration involves not merely political repatriation but ontological transformation of identity. The verse demonstrates Hosea's dialectical structure: the same God who names Israel 'not my people' also names them 'children of the living God,' establishing that divine judgment and divine mercy are both expressions of covenant faithfulness.