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A Call for Israel to Repent

“Come, let us return to the Lord;
    even though he has torn us,[a]
        he will heal us.
Even though he has wounded us,
    he will bind our wounds.[b]
After two days, he will restore us to life,
    on the third day he will raise us up,
        and we will live in his presence.
Let us know,
    let us pursue knowledge of the Lord;
        his coming is as certain as the dawn.
He will come to us like the rain,
    like the autumn and spring rains come on the earth.

“What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
    What am I to do with you, Judah?
Your love is like a morning rain cloud—
    it passes away like the morning dew.
Therefore I cut them[c] to pieces by the prophets,
    killing them by the words from my mouth.
        The verdict against you shines like a beacon.
For it is love that I seek,
    and not sacrifice;
        knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

“But like Adam,[d] they broke the covenant;
    in this they have acted deceitfully against me.
Gilead is a lawless town;
    it is polluted by bloodshed.
Like a gang of thieves that stalk a man,
    priests commit murder along the road to Shechem,
        committing shameful crimes.
10 I have seen a horrible evil in the house of Israel—
    Ephraim’s promiscuity.
        Israel is defiled.

11 “So, Judah, a harvest has been appointed for you
    when I restore my people from captivity.”

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:1 The Heb. lacks us
  2. Hosea 6:1 The Heb. lacks our wounds
  3. Hosea 6:5 The Heb. lacks them
  4. Hosea 6:7 Or men

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.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

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.

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.

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.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.