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Another Symbolic Marriage

And Yahweh said to me again,
“Go, love a woman
who has a lover[a] and is committing adultery,
    just like the love of Yahweh for the children of Israel,
but they are turning to other gods
    and love raisin cakes.”
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver
    and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.[b]
And I said to her,
    You must remain as mine[c] for many days,
        and you will not play the whore;
you will not belong[d] to a man,
    and I will belong to you.”
The children of Israel will remain for many days
    without a king and prince,
    without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.
Afterward the children of Israel will return
    and seek Yahweh their God and David their king.
They will come in fear to Yahweh
    and to his goodness at the end of days.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 3:1 Literally “who is beloved of a friend”
  2. Hosea 3:2 Hebrew “a measure of barley”; the LXX has “a nebel of wine,” although some modern translations, e.g. NASB, have “a homer and a half of barley”
  3. Hosea 3:3 Literally “You must sit at home for me”
  4. Hosea 3:3 Literally “you will not be”