An Illustration of God’s Love for Idolatrous Israel The LORD said to me,“Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery. Likewise, the LORD loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”
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2 So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her.
3 Then I told her,“You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or become joined to another man, and I also will wait for you.”
1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the LORD.
2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. Where have you not been ravished? You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the wilderness. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.
3 That is why the rains have been withheld, and the spring rains have not come. Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
5 For their mother has committed adultery; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said,“I will seek out my lovers; they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.
6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me,“Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.
7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.
8 She also saw that, because of wayward Israel’s adulterous worship of other gods, I sent her away and gave her divorce papers. But still her unfaithful sister Judah was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.
9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.
10 In spite of all this, Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” says the LORD.
11 Then the LORD said to me,“Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah.
20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” says the LORD.
7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say,“I will go back to my husband, because I was better off then than I am now.”
8 Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold– which they used in worshiping Baal!
9 Therefore, I will take back my grain during the harvest time and my new wine when it ripens; I will take away my wool and my flax which I had provided in order to clothe her.
10 Soon I will expose her lewd nakedness in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me!
1 The Lord Recalls Israel’s Earlier Faithfulness The LORD’s message came to me,
2 “Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:‘This is what the LORD says:“I have fond memories of you, how devoted you were to me in your early years. I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.
2 Symbols of Sin and Judgment: The Prostitute and Her Children When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, he said to him,“Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the LORD.”
3 So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son for him.
15 The LORD says to the people of Judah,“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? Many of you have done wicked things. Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?
17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them.
32 “‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband!
33 All prostitutes receive payment, but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors!
35 “‘Therefore O prostitute, Listen to the LORD’s message:
11 Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the LORD loves and has turned to a foreign god!
13 “I will punish her for the festival days when she burned incense to the Baal idols; she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but she forgot me!” says the LORD.
14 Future Repentance and Restoration of Israel However, in the future I will allure her; I will lead her back into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the“Valley of Trouble” into an“Opportunity for Hope.” There she will sing as she did when she was young, when she came up from the land of Egypt.
43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery,‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’
5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians– warriors
17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.
11 Judgment of Pagan Idolatry and Cultic Prostitution Old and new wine take away the understanding of my people.
15 Warning to Judah: Do Not Join in Israel’s Apostasy! Although you, O Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal! Do not go up to Beth Aven! Do not swear,“As surely as the LORD lives!”
30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute.
2 Idolatrous Israel Will Be Punished Like a Prostitute Plead earnestly with your mother(for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked, and expose her like she was when she was born. I will turn her land into a wilderness and make her country a parched land, so that I might kill her with thirst.
14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the LORD,“for I am your true master. If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.
1 Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute’s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
18 The Shameful Sinners Will Be Brought to Shame They consume their alcohol, then engage in cult prostitution; they dearly love their shameful behavior.
25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say,‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue them!’
20 The Lord Expresses His Exasperation at Judah’s Persistent Idolatry“Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said,‘I will not serve you.’ Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.
7 The LORD asked,“How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.
3 I know Ephraim all too well; the evil of Israel is not hidden from me. For you have engaged in prostitution, O Ephraim; Israel has defiled itself.
1 The Lover to His Beloved: I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk!The Poet to the Couple: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers!
1 Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry, to Mourn, or to Feast The LORD’s message came to me,
14 Yet you ask,“Why?” The LORD is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law.
4 Taunt against the Harlot City“Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute– a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery–
28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied.