Hosea’s Wife and Children

² When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous^(A) woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness^(B) to the Lord.” ³ So he married Gomer^(C) daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel,^(D) because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.^(A) Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.^(B)”

² So I bought her for fifteen shekels^[a] of silver and about a homer and a lethek^[b] of barley. ³ Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

⁴ For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,^(C) without sacrifice^(D) or sacred stones,^(E) without ephod^(F) or household gods.^{(G) 5} Afterward the Israelites will return and seek^(H) the Lord their God and David their king.^(I) They will come trembling^(J) to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.^(K)