God refers to his relationship with his people as a relationship between husband and wife. God is saying, “I don’t just want to be your king. I want to be your spouse. I don’t just want your dutiful service. I want your most intimate love. God is saying, I want to be your lover, your husband!” But, we have forsaken God, the spring of living water and have dug our own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. We have forsaken God through our idolatry. And to God, our idolatry is adultery. How can we be redeemed from our adultery? This passage foreshadows the coming of Jesus and his death of the cross to redeem us. It is through the cross that we are accepted back as his bride, to a life in the Kingdom with Christ as our faithful husband.