God speaks to his people Israel:
Hosea 2:2 “Plead with your mother." (i.e. with Israel) "Accuse her, because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute, to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.”
Hosea 2:13 “I will punish her for all the times she burned incense to the Baals. She put on her rings and jewellery and went chasing after her lovers, but she forgot me!”
A Stele of Baal with a thunderbolt
in the Louvre Museum, Paris
(Marie-Lan Nguyen)
The LORD then speaks to Hosea:
Hosea 3:1 “The LORD said to me again, ‘Go and show your love to a woman loved by someone else, who has been unfaithful to you. In the same way the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they worship other gods and love to eat the raisin cakes." (i.e. raisins offered to idols)
Hosea 3:5 “After this, the people of Israel will return to the LORD their God and follow him and the king from David's family.”