1 The Jews shall be cast off for their idolatry. 5 Afterward they shall return to the Lord.

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.

So [c]I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley.

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.

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Footnotes

  1. 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.
  2. Hosea 3:1 That is, gave themselves wholly to pleasure, and could not take up, as they that are given to drunkenness.
  3. 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.
  4. Hosea 3:3 I will try thee a long time as in thy widowhood whether thou wilt be mine or no.

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