Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

1The Lord said to me, “Go, show your 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 the sacred raisin cakes.”

2So I bought her for fifteen shekels^a of silver and about a homer and a lethek^b of barley. 3Then I told her, “You are to live with^c me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with^d you.”

4For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.