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The Prophet’s Reconciliation With His Wife:
A Picture of the Lord’s Love

The Lord said to me, “Go again. Show love to a woman who is loved by another man, a woman who keeps committing adultery. Show love just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, even though they keep turning to other gods and loving the raisin cakes.”[a]

So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and nine bushels[b] of barley. I said to her, “You will stay with me for many days. You must not be promiscuous.[c] You must not be with any other man, and I will also be for you.”

So the people of Israel will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred memorial stones, and without the special vest[d] or family idols.[e] Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 3:1 Raisin cakes were sometimes shaped into images of the goddess Asherah.
  2. Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek, that is, six bushels plus three bushels
  3. Hosea 3:3 Or engage in prostitution
  4. Hosea 3:4 Hebrew ephod
  5. Hosea 3:4 Hebrew teraphim