Hosea Redeems His Unfaithful Wife
Hosea 3:1-5
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Hos.3.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- עוד: ADV
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- א: PRT
- הב: VERB,qal,inf
- אשה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אהבת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- רע: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ומנאפת: ADJ,f,sg
- כאהבת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- בני: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- והם: CONJ+PRON,3,m,pl
- פנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אל: NEG
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אחרים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- ואהבי: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,pl
- אשישי: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ענבים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Hos.1:2 (verbal): Earliest command to Hosea to marry a woman of prostitution (Gomer); same prophetic action-model—YHWH instructs the prophet to take an unfaithful wife as a sign of Israel’s unfaithfulness.
- Hos.2:2-7 (thematic): Extended oracle describing Israel’s adultery (following lovers/other gods) and the consequences—develops the same theme of covenantal unfaithfulness and Yahweh’s response found in 3:1.
- Hos.11:1 (thematic): Affirms Yahweh’s tender love for Israel (‘When Israel was a child I loved him’), paralleling 3:1’s assertion that God loves the wayward people despite their seeking other gods.
- Jer.3:1-14 (thematic): Jeremiah uses the imagery of a faithless wife and summons Israel to return to the LORD—closely parallels Hosea’s marriage/unfaithfulness motif and the call to repentance and restoration.
Alternative generated candidates
- And the LORD said to me, Go again—love a woman beloved by her lover and an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.
- And the LORD said to me, Go again; love a woman beloved of a paramour and an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn their faces to other gods and love raisin cakes.
Hos.3.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואכרה: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- בחמשה: PREP+NUM,m,pl
- עשר: NUM,card,m,sg,cons
- כסף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וחמר: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שערים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ולתך: CONJ+PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- שערים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Hos.3.1 (structural): Immediate literary context—God’s command to Hosea to ‘love’ the unfaithful woman; verse 3:2 narrates the purchase as the enacted response (redeeming/loving Israel).
- Ruth 4:4-10 (thematic): Kinsman-redeemer motif: a redeemer pays to secure marriage/land and restore a woman’s status—parallel to Hosea’s purchase as an act of redemption and restoration.
- Ruth 3:15 (verbal): Boaz gives Ruth measures of barley (six measures) — barley used as provision/consideration for a vulnerable woman, echoing Hosea’s payment including a homer/lethech of barley.
- Leviticus 25:25-28 (thematic): Legal injunctions for redeeming property/relatives by payment provide the cultic-legal background for prophetic language of buying/redeeming Israel.
- Gen.37:28 (allusion): Joseph is sold for twenty shekels of silver—uses silver-price imagery for transferring a person; Hosea’s payment of fifteen shekels echoes and contrasts such transactional language about human fate and betrayal.
Alternative generated candidates
- So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and for a homer of barley and a half-homer of barley.
- So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a measure of barley.
Hos.3.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואמר: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- אליה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רבים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- תשבי: VERB,qal,imperfect,2,f,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- תזני: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תהיי: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- לאיש: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וגם: CONJ
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- אליך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Hos.2:19-20 (verbal): Uses the betrothal/pledge vocabulary—God’s promise to be husband to Israel—echoing 3:3’s line “and also I will be for you.”
- Jer.3:14 (thematic): Portrays Israel as an unfaithful wife called to return; like 3:3 it combines chastity/return with a promise of renewed relationship.
- Ezek.16:60-63 (allusion): Frames Yahweh’s dealings in marriage and covenantal terms and promises restoration and remembrance of the covenant, paralleling Hosea’s restorative chastity motif.
- Isa.54:5-6 (thematic): Speaks of God as husband and promises reconciliation and protection—resonant imagery of divine spousal faithfulness found in Hosea 3:3.
- Eph.5:25-27 (thematic): New Testament application of the husband/ bride metaphor: Christ’s sacrificial love and sanctifying of the church echoes Hosea’s depiction of faithful, covenantal love toward an unfaithful spouse.
Alternative generated candidates
- And I said to her, Live with me many days; do not be a prostitute, do not belong to another man—and I will be for you.
- And I said to her, 'You shall dwell for many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you be another man's; and I also will be toward you.'
Hos.3.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רבים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- ישבו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בני: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אין: PART,neg
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- שר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- זבח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- מצבה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- אפוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ותרפים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Judges 21:25 (thematic): Explicit formula 'In those days there was no king in Israel' parallels Hosea's declaration of absence of king and social/political disorder.
- Judges 17:5-6 (verbal): Mentions an ephod and teraphim and the chaotic religion/politics of the period; echoes Hosea's list (no sacrifice, no ephod, no teraphim) and the era 'there was no king'.
- 2 Kings 25:8-17 (structural): Describes the fall of Jerusalem, removal of the king and officers and the end of temple service—historical event that results in 'no king… no sacrifice' like Hosea's forecast.
- Hosea 3:5 (structural): Immediate literary continuation/contrast: after the period of absence (3:4) Hosea promises a later return and the coming of 'David their king' and restored worship.
- Hosea 13:11 (verbal): God's action of giving a king and taking him away ('I gave you a king… and took him away') echoes the motif of kingship being removed as in 3:4.
Alternative generated candidates
- For many days the sons of Israel shall dwell without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household idols.
- For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or household teraphim.
Hos.3.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אחר: PREP
- ישבו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בני: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובקשו: CONJ+VERB,qal,imp,2,pl
- את: PRT,acc
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיהם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+3mp
- ואת: CONJ
- דוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מלכם: NOUN,m,sg,construct+PRON:3,pl
- ופחדו: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- אל: NEG
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ואל: CONJ+PREP
- טובו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PS,3,sg
- באחרית: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,const
- הימים: NOUN,m,pl,def
Parallels
- Jeremiah 30:9 (verbal): Explicitly links a restored Israel serving the LORD with 'David their king'—language and promise of a Davidic ruler in the future closely parallel Hosea's phrase.
- Ezekiel 37:24-25 (allusion): Speaks of 'my servant David' as king over reunited Israel and their dwelling in the land—echoes Hosea's vision of return and a Davidic king in the latter days.
- Amos 9:11 (allusion): God's promise to 'raise up the booth of David' (restore David's fallen tent) parallels Hosea's motif of future Davidic restoration and national return.
- Ezekiel 34:23-24 (verbal): God declares he will set 'one shepherd'—'my servant David'—over his people so they serve and dwell securely, reflecting Hosea's return-to-God/return-to-David motif.
- Isaiah 11:10 (thematic): Portrays a future day when the nations 'seek' the root of Jesse (Davidic line); thematically parallels Hosea's 'they will seek the LORD and David their king' in the latter days.
Alternative generated candidates
- Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; they will fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
- Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; they shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman loved by her lover and an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half-homer of barley. And I said to her, "You shall dwell for many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor be for another man; and I also will be to you."
For many days the sons of Israel shall dwell without a king and without a prince, without sacrifice and without sacred pillar, without ephod and teraphim.
Afterward the sons of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; they shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.