Hosea 3:1-4:3

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]

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.”