1    ^noteThe Lord said to me,

  Go again and love a woman
    loved by another man, an adulteress,
  and love her as I, the Lord, love the Israelites

Hosea's unfaithful wife
  although they resort to other gods
    and love the raisin-cakes offered to their idols.

2   So I got her back ^note for fifteen pieces of silver, a homer of barley and a measure of wine; ^note 3   and I said to her,

  Many a long day you shall live in my house
    and not play the wanton,
and have no intercourse with a man, nor I with you.


4   For the Israelites shall live many a long day
    without king or prince,
    without sacrifice or sacred pillar,
    without image ^note or household gods; ^note
5   but after that they will again seek
the Lord their God and David their king,
and turn anxiously to the Lord for his bounty in days to come.

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