3 1 The Jews shall be cast off for their idolatry. 5 Afterward they shall return to the Lord.
1 Then said the Lord to me, [a]Go yet, and love a woman (beloved of her husband, and was an harlot) according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel: yet they looked to other gods, and [b]loved the wine bottles.
2 So [c]I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley.
3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide with [d]me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be to none other man, and I will be so unto thee.
4 For the children of Israel shall [e]remain many days without a king and without a [f]prince, and without an offering, and without an image, and without an Ephod, and without Teraphim.
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel convert and seek the Lord their God, and [g]David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
Footnotes
- Hosea 3:1 Herein the Prophet representeth the person of God, which loved his Church before he called her, and did not withdraw the same when she gave herself to idols.
- Hosea 3:1 That is, gave themselves wholly to pleasure, and could not take up, as they that are given to drunkenness.
- Hosea 3:2 Yet I loved her and paid a small portion for her, lest she perceiving the greatness of my love, should have abused me, and not been under duty: for fifteen pieces of silver were but half the price of a slave, Exod. 21:32.
- Hosea 3:3 I will try thee a long time as in thy widowhood whether thou wilt be mine or no.
- Hosea 3:4 Meaning, not only all the time of their captivity, but also unto Christ.
- Hosea 3:4 That is, they should neither have policy nor religion, and their idols also wherein they put their confidence, should be destroyed.
- Hosea 3:5 This is meant of Christ’s kingdom, which was promised unto David to be eternal, Ps. 72:17.