Hosea 3:3

3 And I said to her, "{You must remain as mine} for many days, and you will not play the whore; {you will not belong} to a man, and I [will] belong to 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 And Yahweh said to me again, "Go, love a woman {who has a lover} and [is] committing adultery, just like the love of Yahweh [for] the children of Israel, but they [are] turning to other gods and love raisin cakes."

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.

3 And I said to her, "{You must remain as mine} for many days, and you will not play the whore; {you will not belong} to a man, and I [will] belong to you."

4 The children of Israel will remain for many days without a king and prince, without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.

5 Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king. They will come in fear to Yahweh and to his goodness at the end of days.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "You must sit [at home] for me"
• [b]. Literally "you will not be"