Hosea 3: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD tells Hosea to go and love an adulterous woman again, as a picture of the LORD's love for Israel while Israel turns to other gods. Hosea buys her for silver and barley and tells her she must live with him for a long time without belonging to another man, and he will be the same toward her. The chapter explains this as a sign: Israel will go a long time without king, sacrifice, or the objects of worship, and afterward will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king.

Claim by Claim

1. 3:1
   • The LORD spoke to Hosea.
   • The LORD told Hosea to go again and love a woman.
   • The woman is loved by a companion, and the text does not specify whether that companion is her husband or another man.
   • The woman is an adulteress.
   • Hosea's love for her is to correspond to the LORD's love toward the children of Israel.
   • The children of Israel turn to other gods.
   • The children of Israel love raisin cakes.
2. 3:2
   • Hosea acquired the woman for himself by purchase.
   • The price included fifteen pieces of silver.
   • The price included a homer of barley.
   • The price included a half homer of barley.
3. 3:3
   • Hosea said to her that she would remain with him for many days.
   • Hosea said she would not act as a prostitute.
   • Hosea said she would not belong to another man.
   • Hosea said that he likewise would be so toward her.
4. 3:4
   • The children of Israel will remain for many days.
   • They will be without a king.
   • They will be without a prince.
   • They will be without a sacrifice.
   • They will be without a sacred pillar.
   • They will be without an ephod.
   • They will be without household idols.
5. 3:5
   • Afterward the children of Israel will return.
   • They will seek the LORD their God.
   • They will seek David their king.
   • They will come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness.
   • This will happen in the latter days.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

3:1

The Hebrew says only "a woman," not "your wife," and the word for "again" can attach either to "go" or to "love"; readers have long disagreed over whether this is Gomer from chapter 1 taken back, or a second woman. The rendering keeps the ambiguity. "Raisin cakes" are pressed cakes of dried grapes, eaten at festivals and offered at shrines; the KJV's "flagons of wine" comes from an old guess at the Hebrew word.

3:2

A shekel was a weight of silver, roughly 11–12 grams, not a coin. Thirty shekels was the standard payment for a slave (Exodus 21:32); fifteen shekels plus the barley would come to about that value. A homer was a dry measure, in principle a donkey's load, very roughly 220 liters or six bushels. The word behind "half homer" (lethech) appears only here in the Hebrew Bible; "half a homer" is the traditional understanding. The verb translated "bought" is not the usual word for purchase and may mean "bargained for" or "acquired."

3:3

The last clause is only three words in Hebrew, "and also I toward you", with no verb. It can mean the speaker will wait for her in the same way, or that he too will refrain from relations with her during the waiting period. Translations differ.

3:4

A "sacred stone pillar" (Hebrew matzevah) was an upright standing stone set up at a place of worship. An "ephod" was a priestly garment; it was also used in seeking answers from God, so the word can stand for consulting an oracle. "Household idols" translates teraphim, small figurines kept in the home and consulted for guidance. The list pairs the machinery of government with the machinery of worship: both are named as gone.

3:5

David had been dead for roughly two centuries when Hosea spoke, and the northern kingdom of Israel, his audience, had broken away from David's dynasty long before, so "David their king" means a future king descended from David's line rather than David himself. The King James "shall fear the LORD" translates a verb meaning to tremble or come in awe, not to be frightened away; the sense is approaching with respect. "The latter days" is a stock Hebrew phrase for the future, the time still to come, and does not by itself point to the end of the world.