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.

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up.

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

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

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.

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 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.

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto you? O Judah, what shall I do unto you? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away.

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.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and your judgments are as the light that goes forth.

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 burnt offerings.

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

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

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

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted 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 as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

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

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

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

Also, O Judah, he has set an harvest for you, when I returned the captivity of my people.