displayed on the woman’s body.66 Apparently Hosea had this cultic act chiefly in mind when he spoke of “a-whoring away from Yahweh.” Then “wife of whoredom” (אשׁת זנונים) refers to any young woman ready for marriage (as in 4:13f*) who had submitted to the bridal rites of initiation then current in Israel. The cultic symbols made her easily recognizable as an average, “modern” Israelite woman. She whom Hosea is to marry is therefore not an especially wicked exception; she is simply representative of her