Add parallel Print Page Options

Chapter 3

Hosea and His Wife Reunited[a] Again the Lord said to me:

Go, love a woman
    who is loved by her spouse but commits adultery;
Just as the Lord loves the Israelites,
    though they turn to other gods
    and love raisin cakes.[b]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 3:1–5 Just as the Lord is ready to take Israel back, Hosea takes his wife back. She must undergo a period of purification, just as Israel must experience purification before the restoration of the covenant relationship.
  2. 3:1 Raisin cakes: offerings to the fertility goddess Asherah, the female counterpart of Baal, cf. Jer 7:18; 44:19; Dn 14:5–8.

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

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)

Read full chapter