Hosea 6
11 verses
Israel offers empty protestations of return and repentance, vowing to seek the LORD after two days, believing He will revive them on the third day so they might live in His sight—language later resonating with Christ's resurrection. Yet the prophet reveals that their repentance is superficial and short-lived, as fleeting and insubstantial as morning clouds and dew that quickly disappear under the sun. The famous verse "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings" (6:6) pierces to the heart of Hosea's complaint: Israel offers religious performance without genuine covenantal relationship, sacrificial compliance without heartfelt devotion to God. The metaphors of the LORD as a carpenter or physician who cuts and binds illustrate that divine judgment and mercy work together toward healing and restoration of the covenantal relationship. This chapter stresses that God seeks transformed hearts and faithful knowledge of His character above all external religious observances.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
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2
After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
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3
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
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4
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
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5
Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
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6
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
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7
But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
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8
Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.
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9
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
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10
I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
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11
Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
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