Hosea 3

Good News Translation

Hosea and the Unfaithful Woman

3 The Lord said to me, “Go again^[a] and show your love for a woman who is committing adultery with a lover. You must love her just as I still love the people of Israel, even though they turn to other gods and like to take offerings of raisins to idols.”^[b]

²So I paid fifteen pieces of silver and seven bushels of barley to buy her. ³I told her that for a long time she would have to wait for me without being a prostitute or committing adultery; and during this time I would wait for her. ⁴In just this way the people of Israel will have to live for a long time without kings or leaders, without sacrifices or sacred stone pillars, without idols or images to use for divination. ⁵But the time will come when the people of Israel will once again turn to the Lord their God and to a descendant of David their king. Then they will fear the Lord and will receive his good gifts.

Footnotes

Hosea 3:1 The Lord … again; or The Lord spoke to me again. He said, “Go …”
Hosea 3:1 Dried grapes were used in the worship of fertility gods, who were believed to give abundant harvests to their worshipers.