| 1 | Then said the Lord to me, Go again, love [the same] woman [Gomer] who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins [used in the sacrificial feasts in idol worship]. |
| 2 | So I bought her for
[a]fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley [the price of a slave]. |
| 3 | And I said to her, You shall be [betrothed] to me for many days; you shall not play the harlot and you shall not belong to another man. So will I also be to you [until you have proved your loyalty to me and our marital relations may be resumed]. |
| 4 | For the children of Israel shall dwell
and
sit deprived many days, without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod [a garment worn by priests when seeking divine counsel] or teraphim (household gods). |
| 5 | Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, [inquiring of and requiring Him] and [from the line of] David, their King [of kings]; and they shall come in [anxious] fear to the Lord and to His goodness
and
His good things in the latter days. |
Cross references:
-
Hosea 3:5 : Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:24.
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