Hosea 3:1

God again commands Hosea to love an adulterous woman, mirroring His own love for unfaithful Israel. The prophet's costly love dramatizes God's persistent grace.

Cross-references · 31

• Jer 3:12–14Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
• Jer 31:20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.
• Hos 1:2–3When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”
• Mic 7:18–20Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
• Isa 45:22Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
• Hos 11:8How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!
• Deut 7:6–7For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
• Ps 106:43–46Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.
• Mic 7:7But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
• Luke 1:54–55He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful,
• 1 Pet 4:3For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
• Zech 1:16Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’
• Jer 3:1–4“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
• 1 Cor 10:21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.
• Jer 3:20But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
• Ps 123:2As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are on the LORD our God until He shows us mercy.
• Judg 10:16So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.
• Amos 6:6You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
• Judg 9:27And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.
• Neh 9:18–19Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,
• Exod 32:6So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.
• Amos 2:8They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.
• 2 Sam 6:19Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each for his own home.
• 2 Kgs 13:23But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence.
• Neh 9:31But in Your great compassion, You did not put an end to them; nor did You forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God.
• Isa 17:7–8In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
• Matt 26:50“Friend,” Jesus replied, “do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested Him.
• 1 Cor 10:7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.”
• Hos 9:1–2Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
• Hos 4:11Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
• Hos 7:5The princes are inflamed with wine on the day of our king; so he joins hands with those who mock him.

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.