Hosea — Chapter 3

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1Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”

2So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

3Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.”

4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.

5Afterward, the people 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 last days.

1Then 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.

2So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

3And 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.

4For 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:

5Afterward 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.

1And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved of [her] friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins.

2So I bought her to me for fifteen [pieces] of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;

3and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man`s wife: so will I also be toward thee.

4For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim:

5afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.

1The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery. Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”

2So I paid 15 shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her.

3Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or become joined to another man, and I also will wait for you.”

4For the Israelites must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols.

5Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king. Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings in future days.

1Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”

2So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

3I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”

4For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.

5Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.

Summary
Authorship & Background
Commentary
Videos
Articles
Reflection

Summary

God instructs Hosea to seek out and love his wife again, even though she is loved by another man, as a living picture of the LORD's love for Israel despite their turning to other gods (v. 1). Hosea buys her back for fifteen shekels of silver and a measure and a half of barley (v. 2), then tells her she must live with him many days without engaging in prostitution, and he will do likewise toward her (v. 3). This mirrors Israel's coming fate: for many days the nation will have no king, no sacrifice, no idol, and no means of divination (v. 4). But afterward Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king, coming in awe to the LORD and his goodness in the last days (v. 5).

Authorship & Background

Author: Hosea son of Beeri. Prophesied to the northern kingdom (Israel) approximately 755-715 BC. Contemporary with Isaiah and Micah. Key theme: God's unfailing love for unfaithful Israel, illustrated through Hosea's marriage to Gomer (a prostitute). Despite Israel's spiritual adultery, God says: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (14:4).
Classification: Prophetic Narrative — Redemption of the Adulterous Wife
Key Themes: Redeeming love, the cost of restoration, the long waiting period, future return to the LORD and David's King
Historical Context: Chapter 3 is the most intensely personal chapter in Hosea — only 5 verses, yet containing one of the most powerful pictures of redemption in the Old Testament. God commands Hosea to go again and love his wife who has left him for another man. She has apparently sunk so low that she must be purchased back — bought at the slave market for the price of a common slave (30 shekels total value: 15 silver + barley equivalent). This is Hosea's calvary: buying back at great cost what was rightfully his. The chapter then telescopes into prophecy: Israel will endure a long period without king, sacrifice, or religious identity (the exile and diaspora), but "afterward" they will return and seek the LORD and "David their king" — the Messiah.
God's Command: Love Her Again (v.1): Five verses, and the first is a second command harder than the first. Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, an adulteress. The word is love, not merely take, and it is a command to feel as well as act. The reason is stated plainly, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods. Hosea is being asked to demonstrate what he cannot argue: that this kind of love is possible, because God is doing it.
The Purchase: Buying Back the Adulterous Wife (v.2): So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley. The precision is the point. Fifteen shekels is half the thirty of Exodus 21:32, the price set for a slave gored by an ox, and the barley makes up the rest in grain, the cheapest of the grain offerings. She has fallen to the value of a damaged slave, and her husband pays it. Restoration in this book is never free and never described as easy.
The Condition: Faithful Waiting (v.3): 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. The purchase does not end in immediate restoration of the marriage, it ends in a period of waiting imposed on both of them. He binds himself by the same terms he sets for her. The relationship is real but suspended, and the suspension is deliberate.
The Prophetic Parallel: Israel's Long Exile (v.4): The waiting is then interpreted, and the interpretation reaches far past the exile. 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. The list strips out both legitimate institutions and illegitimate ones, monarchy and sacrifice alongside idol and household god. It is a description of a people kept in existence with none of the machinery of a nation or a cult.
The Promise: Return in the Latter Days (v.5): 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. David has been dead for two centuries when this is written, so the name is being used for the line and the one who comes from it. Note also which kingdom is speaking: Hosea prophesies to the north, which rejected David's house at the schism, and the restoration he promises brings them back to it.

Commentary

  • Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Verse-by-verse commentary on this chapter, written for the everyday reader and freely available online.
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
  • Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Hosea 2-3 | A Whore's Ransom | Bible Study
Spoken Gospel

Choosing a Difficult Kind of Love - Hosea 3:1
David Guzik

Articles

  • GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Hosea -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.

Reflection

  • Called to Love Again (v.1) — Hosea is commanded to go and love his wife again, patterning his love not on her worthiness but on God's own steadfast love for unfaithful Israel. Is there someone who has betrayed or hurt you that you're being called to love again, not because they've earned it, but because that's the shape of God's own love?
  • Redemption at a Real Cost (v.2) — Hosea has to purchase his own wife back at the price paid for a common slave. Do you treat the cost of your own redemption as something significant, or has grace become so familiar that you've stopped noticing what it cost?
  • A Season of Learning Faithfulness (v.3) — After being bought back, Gomer is told to wait faithfully rather than immediately resuming full freedom. Are you willing to let God's restoration in your own life unfold at His pace rather than rushing back to where you were?
  • Purposeful Waiting (v.4) — Israel's extended period without king or sacrifice is described as leading toward something, not as abandonment. If you're in a season where familiar spiritual structures or certainties feel absent, can you trust there's a purpose being worked out in the waiting?
  • Hope for What's Still Coming (v.5) — The chapter ends by looking ahead to Israel's future return and reverence for God in the latter days. Does your view of your own story include confidence that God isn't finished writing it yet?