Did Hosea marry a prostitute?

[tonychanyt]

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NLT, Ho 1:

2 When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.”

The Hebrew word was ambiguous.
NLT note: promiscuous
NIV:

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.”

KJV:

The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

Oxford harlot:

1. a woman who works as a prostitute
2. an offensive word used to refer to a woman who has sex with a lot of men

NKJV:

When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD.”

Oxford harlot:

1. a woman who works as a prostitute, or who is thought to look or behave like one

Did Hosea marry a prostitute?
Not exactly. The original Hebrew language was ambiguous. More than a century before the Babylonian Exile, both Israel and Judah were worshipping idols, committing spiritual adultery against the Lord. To demonstrate this vertical adultery horizontally, God told his prophet Hosea to marry a sexually promiscuous woman who would produce children that might not be his genetically. God wanted to show the Israelites how he felt anthropomorphically through Hosea's re-enactment.