So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
Parallel translations
- WEB So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.
- BSB So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.
- NKJV So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.
- NASB So I purchased her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and a homer and a lethech of barley.
- NLT So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hosea buys the woman back at a modest price of silver and barley. His redemption of her enacts God's redemption of Israel.
Overview
The price Hosea pays, partly in silver and partly in grain, suggests she had fallen into a state of bondage from which she needed to be purchased. By paying to reclaim his own wife, Hosea pictures the costly love that buys back what has strayed. This redemption foreshadows the greater redemption in Christ, who purchased His people at the price of His own blood to make them His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 34:12Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.
- Ezek 45:11The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.
- Lev 27:16And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
- 1 Sam 18:25And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
- Gen 31:41Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
- Isa 5:10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
- Exod 22:17If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.
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Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 3:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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