Hosea 3

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

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

³ I 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.”

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

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

Around Hosea 3

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Hosea as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

God tells Hosea to take a wife who will not be faithful to him, and from that moment the prophet’s own home becomes a picture of God and Israel. The book moves between accusation and tenderness. Israel has chased other gods and trusted foreign powers, and it has been told so. Yet God cannot give his people up.

In chapter 11 God speaks like a parent: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him,” and “I taught Ephraim to walk.” Then comes the cry that gives the book its heart: “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” It ends with a call to return and a promise of healing.

Background

Hosea prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century before Christ, in its last prosperous and then chaotic decades before Assyria destroyed it. He spoke to a land that still seemed secure and was close to its end.

How Christians read it

Readers have asked whether the marriage was a real one or a parable; most take it as real. The book’s picture of God as a husband wronged and as a parent teaching a child to walk (chapter 11) is among the most moving in the prophets. Jesus twice quotes its line that God desires mercy and not sacrifice, and Matthew applies 11:1 to Jesus’ childhood.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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