The prophet is commanded again to love an adulteress; to signify God's love to the synagogue. The wretched state of the Jews for a long time, till at last they shall be converted. 3:1. And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress: as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the grapes. 3:2. And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a core of barley, and for half a core of barley. 3:3. And I said to her: Thou shalt wait for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be no man's, and I also will wait for thee. 3:4. For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim. Theraphim... Images or representations. 3:5. And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord, their God, and David, their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, in the last days. David their king... That is, Christ, who is of the house of David. Osee Chapter 4 God's judgment against the sins of Israel: Juda is warned not to follow their example. 4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land. 4:2. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood. 4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the heat of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together. 4:4. But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest. Let not any man judge, etc... As if he would say: It is in vain to strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil. 4:5. And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent. 4:6. My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children. 4:7. According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. 4:8. They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity. 4:9. And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices. 4:10. And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing the law. 4:11. Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness, take away the understanding.