Hosea 6

1 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.

3 So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.

5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.

6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

7 But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.

9 Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.

10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.

11 Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

2 He maketh us alive after two days: he will raise us up the third day, that we may live before him.

3 Then shall we take heed, and be diligent to know the LORD. For he shall break forth as the beautiful dawn, and shall come upon us as the rain, as the rain that maketh the land wet.

4 How will I do both to thee, Ephraim? How will I do well unto thee, O Judah! For the mercy that I will shew you shall be as the dew of the morning, and as the dew that spreadeth early in the morning.

5 Therefore will I smite them by the prophets, and slay them by the words of my mouth, that thy judgment may come to light.

6 For I delight in love, and not in sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God, and not in burnt offering.

7 But they transgress the covenant, as Adam did; in this they despise me.

8 For Gilead is a city of idolatry and bloodshed,

9 And the priests and their company are as the stumblers, which lie in wait for the people, and choke them in the way that goeth to Shechem: for they do what they will.

10 The princes of Judah are like unto them that draw the border: therefore will I pour out mine anger upon them as water.

10 I see in the house of Israel that I am afraid: for Ephraim hath fornicated, and Israel hath defiled himself.

11 Ephraim suffereth violence, and is afflicted; and it is meet for him: for he hath given himself to the commandment of men.

11 But Judah shall yet have a harvest before her, when I shall turn the prison of my people.

12 I am a moth to Ephraim, and a maggot to the house of Judah.

13 And when Ephraim felt his sickness, and Judah his wounds, Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the king of Jareb: but he could not heal you, nor heal your wounds.

14 For I am as a lion to Ephraim, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I will rend them, and go away, and lead them away, and none can save them.

15 Again, I will go to my place, until they know their iniquity, and seek my face: and if it be evil in them, they shall seek me early: Ch. 6, v. 1. Come, let us return to the Lord. For he hath rent us, he will also heal us; he hath smitten us, he will also bind us up.