Hosea / Chapter 3

Hosea 3

5 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Hosea 3 is the shortest chapter in the book — just five verses — but it contains the dramatic climax of the marriage narrative. God commands Hosea to love a woman who is an adulteress, mirroring God's love for Israel despite their unfaithfulness. Hosea purchases her (possibly Gomer, possibly another woman) for the price of a slave. He then imposes a period of sexual abstinence and isolation, symbolizing Israel's coming exile — a time without king, sacrifice, sacred pillar, ephod, or household gods. The chapter ends with the promise that Israel will return and seek the LORD and David their king in the latter days.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This chapter compresses the entire theology of Hosea into five verses: divine love for the unfaithful, the cost of redemption, the discipline of exile, and the hope of return. The purchase price — fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley — is approximately the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32 sets thirty shekels of silver as the price for a slave killed by an ox). Hosea must buy back his own wife, a devastating picture of the cost of redemption. The period of enforced waiting mirrors the exile: Israel will exist in a state of religious and political suspension, stripped of both legitimate worship (sacrifice, ephod) and illegitimate worship (sacred pillars, household gods).

Translation Friction

Whether the woman in verse 1 is Gomer or a different woman is debated. The Hebrew says 'love a woman' (ishah) without naming her. We render it without specifying, preserving the textual ambiguity. The purchase price is unusual — a mix of silver and barley suggests Hosea may not have had enough silver to pay the full price and supplemented with grain. The phrase 'David their king' in verse 5 is either a reference to a future Davidic ruler (messianic) or to the restoration of the united monarchy — we note both possibilities.

Connections

The redemption of the wife anticipates the go'el (kinsman-redeemer) theology of Ruth and Isaiah. The purchase price echoes the slave valuation of Exodus 21:32 and the thirty pieces of silver in Zechariah 11:12-13. 'David their king' connects to the messianic hope in Jeremiah 30:9, Ezekiel 34:23-24, and 37:24-25. The 'latter days' (acharit hayamim) formula appears in the Pentateuch (Genesis 49:1, Deuteronomy 4:30) and throughout the prophets.

Hosea 3:1

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י ע֚וֹד לֵ֣ךְ אֱ‍ֽהַב־אִשָּׁ֔ה אֲהֻ֥בַת רֵ֖עַ וּמְנָאָ֑פֶת כְּאַהֲבַ֤ת יְהוָה֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְהֵ֗ם פֹּנִים֙ אֶל־אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֲחֵרִ֔ים וְאֹהֲבֵ֖י אֲשִׁישֵׁ֥י עֲנָבִֽים׃

The LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and who is an adulteress — just as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

KJV Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

אָהַב ahav
"love" — to love, to desire, to be committed to, to choose

The command is not to feel romantic attraction but to act in covenantal love toward an unfaithful partner. This is the love of choice and commitment, not of feeling.

Translator Notes

  1. The phrase ahuvat rea ('loved by another/a companion') is ambiguous — it could mean she is currently the lover of another man, or that she was once loved by her husband (Hosea). We render 'loved by another man' to capture the adulterous triangle. The 'raisin cakes' are not ordinary food but ritual offerings at fertility shrines (cf. Song of Songs 2:5, Isaiah 16:7). The KJV's 'flagons of wine' is a mistranslation of ashishot anavim; raisin cakes are the correct rendering.
Hosea 3:2

וָאֶכְּרֶ֣הָ לִּ֔י בַּחֲמִשָּׁ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר כָּ֑סֶף וְחֹ֥מֶר שְׂעֹרִ֖ים וְלֵ֥תֶךְ שְׂעֹרִֽים׃

So I purchased her for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The verb ekkreha ('I purchased her') may imply buying her out of slavery or paying a bride-price to reclaim her. Fifteen silver pieces is half the standard slave price (Exodus 21:32 specifies thirty shekels). The supplementation with barley — a cheap grain — suggests either poverty or that the transaction involved bartering. A homer is approximately 220 liters (6.25 bushels). The total value may approximate thirty shekels — the full price of a slave. The prophet must pay to reclaim what was already his.
Hosea 3:3

וָאֹמַ֣ר אֵלֶ֗יהָ יָמִ֤ים רַבִּים֙ תֵּ֣שְׁבִי לִ֔י לֹ֣א תִזְנִ֔י וְלֹ֥א תִהְיִ֖י לְאִ֑ישׁ וְגַם־אֲנִ֖י אֵלָֽיִךְ׃

Then I said to her, "You must remain with me for many days. You must not be promiscuous and you must not be with any man — and I will do the same for you."

KJV And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The period of isolation is mutual — 'and I also toward you' (vegam ani elayikh) means Hosea will also refrain from conjugal relations with her. This is not punishment but a probationary period of enforced fidelity without intimacy. The woman must learn to live without other lovers; the prophet withholds himself as well. This period symbolizes the exile — a time when Israel will be without God's intimate presence but also without idols.
Hosea 3:4

כִּ֣י ׀ יָמִ֣ים רַבִּ֗ים יֵשְׁב֙וּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֵ֥ין מֶ֙לֶךְ֙ וְאֵ֣ין שָׂ֔ר וְאֵ֥ין זֶ֖בַח וְאֵ֣ין מַצֵּבָ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין אֵפ֖וֹד וּתְרָפִֽים׃

For the children of Israel will remain for many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without sacred pillar, without ephod, and without household gods.

KJV For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:

Notes & Key Terms 2 terms

Key Terms

מַצֵּבָה matsevah
"sacred pillar" — standing stone, pillar, memorial stone, cult stone

Could be a legitimate memorial (Genesis 28:18, Jacob's pillar at Bethel) or an illegitimate cultic object condemned alongside Baal worship (Deuteronomy 16:22). In the exile, both uses cease.

תְּרָפִים teraphim
"household gods" — household idols, ancestral figures, divinatory objects

Small idol figurines kept in households for divination and protection (cf. Genesis 31:19, Rachel's theft of Laban's teraphim; 1 Samuel 19:13). Their inclusion alongside legitimate items shows Israel's religious syncretism.

Translator Notes

  1. The list alternates between legitimate and illegitimate institutions: king and prince (political leadership), sacrifice and sacred pillar (worship — sacrifice is legitimate, the matsevah/pillar is ambiguous but often condemned), ephod (priestly garment used for divination) and teraphim (household idols, clearly illegitimate). In exile, Israel will lose everything — both proper worship and improper worship, both true institutions and false ones. The condition is one of total religious and political suspension.
Hosea 3:5

אַחַ֗ר יָשֻׁ֙בוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וּבִקְשׁ֕וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֖ם וְאֵ֣ת דָּוִ֣ד מַלְכָּ֑ם וּפָחֲד֧וּ אֶל־יְהוָ֛ה וְאֶל־טוּב֖וֹ בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית הַיָּמִֽים׃

Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

KJV Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

שׁוּב shuv
"return" — return, turn back, repent, restore

The theological climax of Hosea's message: after judgment and exile, Israel will return. The spatial metaphor of repentance — turning around and going home — defines Hosea's understanding of restoration.

Translator Notes

  1. 'David their king' likely refers not to the historical David but to a future Davidic ruler — a messianic reading shared by both Jewish and Christian tradition (cf. Jeremiah 30:9, Ezekiel 34:23-24). The verb pachad normally means 'fear, tremble' but with the preposition el ('toward') it describes movement in awe rather than flight in terror. The 'latter days' (acharit hayamim) is a standard prophetic eschatological marker (Genesis 49:1, Isaiah 2:2, Micah 4:1). The structure of the chapter — command, purchase, waiting, return — maps the entire arc of Israel's history from covenant to exile to restoration.
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