UHoseya 3

1 INkosi yasisithi kimi: Hamba futhi, uthande owesifazana, othandwe ngumngane wakhe kanti uyafeba, njengeNkosi ithanda abantwana bakoIsrayeli, kodwa bakhangela kwabanye onkulunkulu, bethanda izinkwa zezithelo zevini ezonyisiweyo.

Jehovah said to me, "Go again, love a woman who loves another, and is an adulteress, even as Jehovah loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins."

2 Ngasengizithengela yena ngezinhlamvu zesiliva ezilitshumi lanhlanu, lehomeri yebhali lengxenye yehomeri yebhali.

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

3 Ngasengisithi kuye: Uzahlala ungowami insuku ezinengi; ungawuli, ungabi ngowenye indoda, ngokunjalo lami ngizakuba ngowakho.

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 Ngoba abantwana bakoIsrayeli bazahlala insuku ezinengi bengelankosi, bengelasiphathamandla, bengelamhlatshelo, bengelansika eyisithombe, bengela-efodi lamatherafi.

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

5 Emva kwalokho abantwana bakoIsrayeli bazaphenduka, badinge iNkosi uNkulunkulu wabo, loDavida inkosi yabo; bayesabe iNkosi lokulunga kwayo ekucineni kwezinsuku.

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