Hosea 3:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 3:1
Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֜הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Go
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
love
אֱֽהַב'ehav-
H157
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
woman
אִשָּׁ֔ה'i.Shah
H802
a woman · noun, common feminine singular absolute
beloved
אֲהֻ֥בַת'a.Hu.vat
H157
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · verb, qal passive participle, feminine singular construct
friend
רֵ֖עַRe.a'
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
adulteress
וּמְנָאָ֑פֶתu.me.na.'A.fet
H5003
to commit adultery · conjunction + verb, piel active participle, feminine singular absolute
love
כְּאַהֲבַ֤תke.'a.ha.Vat
H160
affection (in a good or a bad sense) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
children
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
look
פֹּנִים֙po.Nim
H6437
to turn · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
other
אֲחֵרִ֔ים'a.che.Rim
H312
properly · adjective, masculine plural absolute
gods
אֱלֹהִ֣ים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
love
וְאֹהֲבֵ֖יve.'o.ha.Vei
H157
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
flagons
אֲשִׁישֵׁ֥י'a.shi.Shei
H809
something closely pressed together · noun, common masculine plural construct
wine
עֲנָבִֽים'a.na.Vim
H6025
a grape · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 3:12-14 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to f…
Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Jeremiah 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are tr…
Hosea 1:2-3 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms…
Micah 7:18-20 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his…
Deuteronomy 7:6-7 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people t…
Psalms 106:43-46 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
Hosea 11:8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine he…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 3:1–end
Some think that this chapter refers to Judah, the two tribes, as the adulteress the prophet married (Hos 1:3) represented the ten tribes; for this was not to be divorced, as the ten tribes were, but to be left desolate for a long time, and then to return, as the two tribes did. But these are called the children of Israel, which was the ten tribes, and therefore it is more probable that of them this parable, as well as that before, is to be understood. Go, and repeat it, says God to the prophet; Go yet again. Note, For the conviction and reduction of sinners it is necessary that precept be upon precept, and line upon line. If they will not believe one sign, try another, Exo 4:8, Exo 4:9. Now,…
Then said the Lord unto me,.... Or, as the Targum,
"the Lord said unto me again'';
for the word yet or again is to be joined to this, and not the following clause; and shows that this is a new vision, prophecy, or parable, though respecting the same persons and things:
go, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress; not the prophet's wife, not Gomer, but some other feigned person; beloved either of her own husband, as the Targum and Jarchi, notwithstanding her unchastity and unfaithfulness to him; or of another man, as Aben Ezra, who had a very great respect for her, courted her, and perhaps had betrothed her, but had not yet consummated the marriage; and, though a harlot, love…
Hosea 3:1
1. Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
1. Et dixit jehova ad me, Adhuc vade, ama mulierem dilectum a marito (ad verbum, a proximo, vel, socio: sed intelligit comparem) et quae adultera est (sed copula debet resolvi in adversativam, quae tamen adultera est,) secundum amorem Jehovae erga filios Israel: et ipsi (hoc est, quitamen) respiciunt ad deos alienos, et amant lagenas (vel, cados) uvarum.
The substance of this chapter is, that it was God's purpose to keep in firm hope the minds of the faithful during the exi…
The Church Fathers
And the Lord said to me: Go still, love the beloved woman to a friend and an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they respect (look at) foreign gods, and they love "wine presses of grapes." (Vulgate "they look at") LXX: "And the Lord said to me: Go still and love the woman loving evil and an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they look (respect) to foreign gods, and they love baked goods with wine." The prophet was joined with the former woman as a symbol of the ten tribes, or the whole Jewish people, who committed adultery, and finally brought the abandoned and tortured children to salvation: here he is commanded to still love the adulterous woman. When it is said, 'still,' it shows that he has previously loved fornication: whether that adulteress loves those evils or is loved by a friend and neighbor: For the Hebrew word 'friend' or 'evil' is read. And lest we think that the love of the prophet is for the adulteress, it signifies something other than the love of God for the children of Israel, he brought it in: Just as the Lord loves the children of Israel. Therefore, because the prophet loves the adulteress, yet is not joined to her in marriage, nor is he linked in fornication, but only loves the transgressor, he is a type of God, who loves the most wicked children of Israel, who, though they are loved by the Lord, look to foreign gods and idols and love the grapes of the vineyards that have no wine, and have lost their original grace, just like demons who have fallen from their own dignity and possessing nothing of ancient grace, they are dry and withered by old dryness. From the 'vineyards,' which in Hebrew is called Asise. Aquila translated it as παλαιὰ, that is, 'old.' Symmachus [translated it as] ἀκάρπους, that is, 'sterile:' and they are not only vineyards, but also old vineyards, that ancient sins may be test. And it should be noted that this adulteress signifies the present time of the Jews, who without God and knowledge of the Scriptures and the grace of the Holy Spirit, are loved by the Lord, who awaits salvation for all, and opens the door to those who repent, and they nevertheless love useless things, loving human traditions and dreams of δευτερωσέων and do not have grapes and wine and full presses with must, but old vineyards that are rejected. Regarding "pemmatibus" which the 70…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Flagon — Heb. ashishah, (2 Sam. 6:19; 1 Chr. 16:3; Cant. 2:5; Hos. 3:1), meaning properly “a cake of pressed raisins.” “Flagons of wine” of the Authorized Version should be, as in the Revised Version, “cakes…
Wine — The common Hebrew word for wine is yayin, from a root meaning “to boil up,” “to be in a ferment.” Others derive it from a root meaning “to tread out,” and hence the juice of the grape trodden out.…
Flagon · General references — General references
Idolatry · Consists in: Looking to other gods — Consists in: Looking to other gods
Polygamy · Hosea — Hosea
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
"And Jehovah said to me, Go again, and love a woman beloved of her companion, and committing adultery, as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, and they turn to other gods, and love raisin-cakes." The purely symbolical character of this divine command is evident from the nature of the command itself, but more especially from the peculiar epithet applied to the wife. עוד is not to be connected with ויּאמר, in opposition to the accents, but belongs to לך, and is placed first for the sake of emphasis. Loving the woman, as the carrying out of the divine command in Hos 3:2 clearly shows, is in fact equivalent to taking a wife; and 'âhabh is chosen instead of lâqach, simply for the purpose of i…
Go and love your wife again, even though she: The Lord commanded Hosea to restore his marriage as testimony that the Lord had promised to restore wayward Israel. • love to worship them: Literally love their raisin cakes. The worship of Asherah, a Canaanite fertility goddess, often included offerings of raisin cakes.
Rashi on Hosea 3:1
beloved by her companion Cherished by her husband and beloved to him, who [nonetheless] commits adultery under his domain, [paralleling thereby] the love of the Holy One, Blessed Is He, for the nation of Israel who [nonetheless] stray from under His domain towards other gods.
goblets of grapes Heb. אֲשִׁישֵׁי עֲנָבִים. Menahem (Machbereth p. 34) explains. ‘goblets of wine.’ They are fond of becoming drunk with their wine and do not engage in Torah. And so we find that elsewhere he castigates for this: “that drink wine in bowls, etc” (Amos 6:6).
