Hosea 6:1-11

  • A call to return to Jehovah (1-3)

  • The people’s fleeting loyal love (4-6)

    • Loyal love better than sacrifice (6)

  • The people’s shameful conduct (7-11)

6  “Come, and let us return to Jehovah,For he has torn us to pieces,+ but he will heal us. He struck us, but he will bind our wounds.   He will revive us after two days. On the third day he will raise us up,And we will live before him.   We will know, we will earnestly seek to know Jehovah. His going out is as certain as the dawn;He will come to us like a pouring rain,Like a spring rain that saturates the earth.”   “What should I do with you, Eʹphra·im? What should I do with you, Judah? For your loyal love is like the morning clouds,Like the dew that quickly vanishes.   That is why I will cut them down by means of the prophets;+I will kill them with the words of my mouth.+ And the judgments on you will shine as the light.+   For in loyal love* I delight, not in sacrifice,And in the knowledge of God, rather than in whole burnt offerings.+   But they, like mere men, have violated the covenant.+ There they have betrayed me.   Gilʹe·ad is a town of evildoers,+Covered with footprints of blood.+   The company of priests are like marauder bands lying in ambush for a man. They murder on the road at Sheʹchem,+For their conduct is shameful. 10  I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There Eʹphra·im practices prostitution;+Israel has defiled itself.+ 11  Furthermore, O Judah, a harvest is set for you,When I gather back the captives of my people.”+

Footnotes

Or “in mercy.”