And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me - solitary and sequestered, separate from contact with any other man, and remaining for me who have redeemed thee (cf. the case of the captive woman whom her Israelite master desired to make his wife, and who for a month was to remain in his house for him, but separate from him, bewailing her captivity, and was then to become his wife, Deuteronomy 21:13). literally, sit waiting for me: cf. Jeremiah 3:2; Exodus 24:1.
Thou shall not be for another man. Omit another, not being in the Hebrew: "Thou shalt not be for man:" not only not for any paramour, but not even for thine own husband. As Israel has been for ages, free from idolatry, yet not restored to union with the Lord.
So will I also be for thee - remain for thee, not taking any other consort. As Israel should long remain without serving other gods, yet separate from Yahweh, so Yahweh on His part, in this long period of estrangement, would form no marriage-covenant with any other people (cf. Hosea 3:4). The Hebrew means so will I also be TOWARD thee х 'eeleyhaa (H413)]. God would have a secret care toward Israel, while not taking her into close communion; thereby Israel has been still preserved as a nation, though scattered for ages among all peoples, and has not been allowed to fall into utter irreligion. He would not immediately receive her to marriage-privileges, but would test her repentance, and discipline her by the long probation; still the marriage-covenant would hold good-she was to be kept separated for but a time, not divorced (Isaiah 50:1 "Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away?" (not divorced): in God's good time she shall be restored.