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.

In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord:

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

For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us.

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.

He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to 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.

What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning.

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.

For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light.

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

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts.

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

But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have they dealt treacherously against me.

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

Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with 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.

And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness.

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

I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled.

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

And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back captivity of my people.