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Hosea 3:1-4:10
Good News Translation
Hosea 3:1-4:10
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]
2 So I paid fifteen pieces of silver and seven bushels of barley to buy her. 3 I 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. 4 In 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. 5 But 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.
The Lord's Accusation against Israel
4 The Lord has an accusation to bring against the people who live in this land. Listen, Israel, to what he says: “There is no faithfulness or love in the land, and the people do not acknowledge me as God. 2 They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another. 3 And so the land will dry up, and everything that lives on it will die. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, will die.”
The Lord Accuses the Priests
4 The Lord says, “Let no one accuse the people or reprimand them—my complaint is against you priests.[c] 5 Night and day you blunder on, and the prophets do no better than you. I am going to destroy Israel, your mother. 6 My people are doomed because they do not acknowledge me. You priests have refused to acknowledge me and have rejected my teaching, and so I reject you and will not acknowledge your sons as my priests.
7 “The more of you priests there are, the more you sin against me, and so I will turn your honor into disgrace. 8 You grow rich from the sins of my people, and so you want them to sin more and more. 9 You will suffer the same punishment as the people! I will punish you and make you pay for the evil you do. 10 You will eat your share of the sacrifices, but still be hungry. You will worship the fertility gods, but still have no children, because you have turned away from me to follow other gods.”
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.
- Hosea 4:4 Probable text my complaint is against you priests; Hebrew your people are like those with a complaint against the priests.
Hosea 3:1-4:10
New International Version
Hosea 3:1-4:10
New International Version
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)
The Charge Against Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
because the Lord has a charge(L) to bring
against you who live in the land:(M)
“There is no faithfulness,(N) no love,
no acknowledgment(O) of God in the land.(P)
2 There is only cursing,[c] lying(Q) and murder,(R)
stealing(S) and adultery;(T)
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.(U)
3 Because of this the land dries up,(V)
and all who live in it waste away;(W)
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea are swept away.(X)
4 “But let no one bring a charge,
let no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
who bring charges against a priest.(Y)
5 You stumble(Z) day and night,
and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother(AA)—
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.(AB)
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law(AC) of your God,
I also will ignore your children.
7 The more priests there were,
the more they sinned against me;
they exchanged their glorious God[d](AD) for something disgraceful.(AE)
8 They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.(AF)
9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.(AG)
I will punish both of them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.(AH)
Footnotes
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.