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)”

²So I bought her for fifteen shekels^[a] of silver and about a homer and a lethek^[b] of barley. ³Then 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.”

⁴For 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) ⁵Afterward 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)
²There is only cursing,^[c] lying^(Q) and murder,^(R)
    stealing^(S) and adultery;^(T)
they break all bounds,
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.^(U)
³Because 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)
⁵You 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.
⁷The more priests there were,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they exchanged their glorious God^[d]^(AD) for something disgraceful.^(AE)
⁸They feed on the sins of my people
    and relish their wickedness.^(AF)
⁹And it will be: Like people, like priests.^(AG)
    I will punish both of them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.^(AH)

¹⁰“They will eat but not have enough;^(AI)
they will engage in prostitution^(AJ) but not flourish,
because they have deserted^(AK) the Lord
to give themselves

Footnotes

Hosea 3:2 That is, about 6 ounces or about 170 grams
Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek possibly weighed about 430 pounds or about 195 kilograms.
Hosea 4:2 That is, to pronounce a curse on
Hosea 4:7 Syriac (see also an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition); Masoretic Text me; / I will exchange their glory