< Hosea 3 >
1 And the LORD said unto me: 'Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend and an adulteress, even as the LORD loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins.
And the Lord said to me: “Go yet again, and love a woman, beloved by a friend, yet an adulteress, for so does the Lord love the sons of Israel, yet they look to strange gods, and love the seeds of grapes.”
2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
And I contracted her to me for fifteen silver coins, and for a basket of barley, and half a basket of barley.
3 and I said unto her: 'Thou shalt sit solitary for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man's wife; nor will I be thine.'
And I said to her, “You will wait for me for many days. You will not commit fornication, and you will not be with a man. But I also will wait for you.”
4 For the children of Israel shall sit solitary many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim;
For the sons of Israel will sit for many days without a king, and without a leader, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without priestly vestments, and without religious symbols.
5 afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling unto the LORD and to His goodness in the end of days.
And after this, the sons of Israel will return, and they will seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they will be terrified by the Lord and by his goodness, in the last days.