So I bought her at first seems to imply paying a bride price, but it is equally possible that the woman had become the property of another person, not of her own family, or that she was hired. The Hebrew word for bought is difficult to interpret exactly. Many translations have the same rendering as Revised Standard Version (for example, New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “hired,” which follows the Septuagint. This reading comes from a different Hebrew verbal form. The meaning “to hire” (also based on a related word in Arabic) fits the context of 3.3-4 well. However, many scholars opt for a different root of the Hebrew verb here, which implies “purchase for marriage.” Bargaining over the price was involved. In this case the price is approximately that paid for a slave. There is no clear record that a wife or a concubine was ever sold to someone else in this manner in Israel. In many cultures negotiating a dowry requires the involvement of relatives from both sides of the negotiating parties. This is certainly not implied here. New English Bible makes it explicit the woman in view here is Gomer by saying “So I got her back,” but we do not recommend this interpretation. If buying the woman as a slave is intended here, she may have become someone’s personal slave, or else a temple prostitute.

The price agreed upon was fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. A shekel weighed about 11.4 grams (0.4 ounce), so fifteen shekels of silver is about 170 grams (6 ounces) of silver. This phrase is literally “fifteen silver,” so Good News Translation provides a good model with “fifteen pieces of silver.” It is best not to convert this amount into modern currency values, since modern currencies tend to fluctuate in value.

A homer is equivalent to about 220 liters (6 bushels). Originally a homer probably referred to the amount of grain carried by a donkey. According to tradition a lethech was half of a homer, but this is just a guess. A homer and a lethech may equal approximately “seven bushels” (Good News Translation). The translation of this phrase depends on the translation brief. A translation may maintain the original measurements, convert them into a metric or other current system, or use other alternatives. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling translates “one and a half donkey loads.”

Barley is a type of grass like wheat and rice. In Old Testament times barley was less valuable than wheat, and it was commonly fed to animals. It was also made into bread when wheat was not available or was too expensive. It has been estimated that seven bushels of barley would be worth about fifteen silver shekels. If this is the case, Hosea paid in all the equivalent of thirty silver shekels, the standard price of a slave (Exo 21.32). The fact that Hosea paid part in silver and part in two different measures of barley may show that he was not rich and had difficulty in bringing the amount together. The combination of silver and barley in a context like this is unusual. That fact encourages us to search for other solutions.

Some scholars doubt that the traditional Hebrew text for a homer and a lethech of barley is accurate, since it is literally “a homer of barley and a lethech of barley.” This text seems to have a useless repetition of “barley,” so the Septuagint changes “a lethech of barley” to read “a wineskin/vessel of wine.” New Living Translation and New English Bible follow this reading by saying “a measure of wine,” and so does New Jerusalem Bible with “a skin of wine.” However, the evidence is weak for such a rendering, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports the traditional Hebrew text (a {B} decision). A footnote that gives the Septuagint reading may be useful.

Translation models for this verse are:

• So I hired her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and one and a half donkey loads of barley.

• So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and one and a half homers of barley.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .