"And I acquired her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a lethech of barley." אכּרה, with dagesh lene or dirimens (Ewald, 28, b), from kârâh, to dig, to procure by digging, then generally to acquire (see at Deuteronomy 2:6), or obtain by trading (Job 6:27; Job 40:30). Fifteen keseph are fifteen shekels of silver; the word shekel being frequently omitted in statements as to amount (compare Ges. 120, 4, Anm. 2). According to Ezekiel 45:11, the homer contained ten baths or ephahs, and a lethech (ἡμίκορος, lxx) was a half homer. Consequently the prophet gave fifteen shekels of silver and fifteen ephahs of barley; and it is a very natural supposition, especially if we refer to 2 Kings 7:1; 2 Kings 16:18, that at that time an ephah of barley was worth a shekel, in which case the whole price would just amount to the sum for which, according to Exodus 21:32, it was possible to purchase a slave, and was paid half in money and half in barley. The reason for the latter it is impossible to determine with certainty. The price generally, for which the prophet obtained the wife, was probably intended to indicate the servile condition out of which Jehovah purchased Israel to be His people; and the circumstance that the prophet gave no more for the wife than the amount at which a slave could be obtained, according to Ecclesiastes 21:32 and Zechariah 11:12, and that this amount was not even paid in money, but half of it in barley - a kind of food so generally despised throughout antiquity (vile hordeum; see at Numbers 5:15) - was intended to depict still more strikingly the deeply depressed condition of the woman. The price paid, moreover, is not to be regarded as purchase money, for which the wife was obtained from her parents; for it cannot be shown that the custom of purchasing a bride from her parents had any existence among the Israelites (see my Bibl. Archologie, ii. 109, 1). It was rather the marriage present (mōhar), which a bridegroom gave, not to the parents, but to the bride herself, as soon as her consent had been obtained. If, therefore, the woman was satisfied with fifteen shekels and fifteen ephahs of barley, she must have been in a state of very deep distress.

Hosea 13:13 Parallel Commentaries

sorrows.

Psalm 48:6 Fear took hold on them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Isaiah 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails...

Isaiah 21:3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold on me, as the pangs of a woman that travails...

Jeremiah 4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child...

Jeremiah 13:21 What will you say when he shall punish you? for you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over you: shall not sorrows take you...

Jeremiah 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that make your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come on you...

Jeremiah 30:6 Ask you now, and see whether a man does travail with child? why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail...

Jeremiah 49:24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her...

Micah 4:9,10 Now why do you cry out aloud? is there no king in you? is your counselor perished? for pangs have taken you as a woman in travail...

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail on a woman with child...

an.

Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go your way for this time...

for he.

2 Kings 19:3 And they said to him, Thus said Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy...

Isaiah 26:17 Like as a woman with child, that draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs...

Isaiah 37:3 And they said to him, Thus said Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy...

Acts 16:29-34 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas...

2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he said, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored you: behold, now is the accepted time...

Hebrews 3:7,8 Why (as the Holy Ghost said, To day if you will hear his voice...

long. Heb. a time.