Hosea 3:3

3 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."

Hosea 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 3:3

And I said unto her
Having bought or hired her; this was the covenant or agreement he made with her, thou shall abide for me many days;
dwell alone in some solitary and separate place, and have no conversation with any, especially with men; live like a widow that has lost her husband, and so wait for a long time till the prophet should think fit to take her to his house and bed: thou shall not play the harlot, and thou shall not be for another man;
neither prostitute herself, as she had done to her lovers; nor marry another, but keep herself chaste and single: so will I also be for thee;
wait for thee, and not take another wife; or will be thy husband, after having made proper trial and full proof of thy conduct and behaviour: the Targum paraphrases it thus;

``say, O prophet, to her, O congregation of Israel, your sins are the cause that you are carried captive many days; ye shall give yourselves to my worship and not err, nor serve idols, and even I will have mercy on you.''

The whole is explained in the following words:

Hosea 3:3 In-Context

1 The LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Yisra'el, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins."

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

3 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 For the children of Yisra'el shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without efod or idols.

5 Afterward the children of Yisra'el shall return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.