Hosea 3

Hosea Redeems His Wife

1And the Lord said to me, aGo again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a bhomer and a lethech
A  shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a  homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; a  lethech was about 3 bushels or 110 liters
of barley.
3And I said to her, “You must ddwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4For the children of Israel eshall dwell many days fwithout king or prince, gwithout sacrifice or hpillar, without iephod or jhousehold gods. 5Afterward kthe children of Israel shall return and lseek the Lord their God, and mDavid their king, nand they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the olatter days.

Hosea 13

The Lord’s Relentless Judgment on Israel

1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
phe was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt qthrough Baal and died.
2And now they sin more and more,
and rmake for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
sall of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
“Those who offer human sacrifice tkiss calves!”
3Therefore they shall be ulike the morning mist
or vlike the dew that goes early away,
wlike the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
or xlike smoke from a window.
4 But yI am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
zyou know no God but me,
and aabesides me there is no savior.
5 abIt was I who knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought;
6 acbut when they had grazed,
Hebrew according to their pasture
they became full,
aethey were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
aftherefore they forgot me.
7So agI am to them like a lion;
ahlike a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
8I will fall upon them ailike a bear robbed of her cubs;
I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
ajas a wild beast would rip them open.
9 He destroys
Or I will destroy
you, O Israel,
for you are against me, against alyour helper.
10 amWhere now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
Where are all your rulers
those of whom anyou said,
Give me a king and princes”?
11 aoI gave you a king in my anger,
and apI took him away in my wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is aqbound up;
his sin is arkept in store.
13 asThe pangs of childbirth come for him,
but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
atat the opening of the womb.
14 auI shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
avI shall redeem them from Death.
awO axDeath, where are your plagues?
ayO azSheol, where is your sting?
baCompassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Though bbhe may flourish among his brothers,
bcthe east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
rising from the wilderness,
bdand his fountain shall dry up;
his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip behis treasury
of every precious thing.
16
Ch 14:1 in Hebrew
Samaria bgshall bear her guilt,
because bhshe has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
bitheir little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
and their bjpregnant women ripped open.
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