Hosea 3:2

Hosea 3:2 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
• New International Version (NIV)So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.
• English Standard Version (ESV)So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.
• New King James Version (NKJV)So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.

Context of Hosea 3:2

1The 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.” So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her. 3Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with another man, and I also will wait for you.” 4For the Israelites must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols.

Hosea 3:2 word by word

וָאֶכְּרֶ֣הָ לִּ֔י בַּחֲמִשָּׁ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר כָּ֑סֶף וְחֹ֥מֶר שְׂעֹרִ֖ים וְלֵ֥תֶךְ שְׂעֹרִֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• So I boughtכָּרָהkârâh · to tradeH3739
• her to me for fifteenחָמֵשׁchâmêsh chămishshâh · fiveH2568
• her to me for fifteenעָשָׂר‛âώâr · tenH6240
• of silverכֶּ֫סֶףkeseph · silver: moneyH3701
• an homerחֹ֫מֶרchômer · homerH2563
• of barleyשְׂעֹרָהώe‛ôrâh ώe‛ôrâh ώe‛ôr ώe‛ôr · barleyH8184
• and an half homerלֶ֫תֶךְlethek · a barley-measureH3963

Cross-references for Hosea 3:2

• Genesis 31:41This was my lot for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!
• Genesis 34:12You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, and I’ll give whatever you ask of me. Just give me the young woman as my wife!”
• Exodus 22:17If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay money for the bride price of virgins.
• 1 Samuel 18:25Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)
• Leviticus 27:16“‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver.
• Isaiah 5:10Indeed, a large vineyard will produce just a few gallons, and enough seed to yield several bushels will produce less than a bushel.”
• Ezekiel 45:11The dry and liquid measures will be the same, the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure.

Commentaries on Hosea 3:2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Fifteen pieces of silver - If they were shekels, the price of this woman was about two pounds five shillings. A homer of barley - As the homer was about eight bushels, or something more, the homer and half was about twelve or thirteen bushels.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver - The fifteen shekels were half the price of a common slave Exodus 21:32, and so may denote her worthlessness. The homer and half-homer of barley, or forty-five bushels, are nearly the allowance of food for a slave among the Romans, four bushels a month. Barley was the offering of one accused of adultery, and, being the food of animals, betokens that she was “like horse and mule which have no…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2So I bought her: The Bible does not explain why the prophet had to buy his wife. Many believe that the unfaithful Gomer fell into debt and became a slave. The low price Hosea paid suggests that Gomer was seen as a low-value slave (see Exodus 21:32; Leviticus 27:4).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. I bought her--The price paid is too small to be a probable dowry wherewith to buy a wife from her parents; but it is just half the price of a female slave, in money, the rest of the price being made up in grain (Ex 21:32). Hosea pays this for the redemption of his wife, who has become the slave of her paramour. The price being half grain was because the latter was the allowance of food for the slave, and of the coarsest kind, not wheat, but barley…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 3:2

• Barley
• Marriage
• Measure
• Polygamy
• Symbols and Similitudes

In the dictionaries

• Homer
• Marriage
• Dowry
• Gomer (2)
• Hosea
• Lethech
• Song of Songs
• Zechariah, Book of
• Piece of Silver
• Weights and Measures

Commentaries on Hosea 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings