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 seek me early, saying, Let us go, and return to the Lord our God; for he has torn, and will heal us; he will strike, and 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 he will heal us: in the third day we shall arise, and live before him, and shall know [him]:

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.

let us follow on to know the Lord: we shall find him ready as the morning, and he will come to us as the early and 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 you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Juda? whereas your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that 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 mown down your prophets; I have slain them with the word of my mouth: and my judgment shall go forth as the light.

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

For I will [have] mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than whole burnt offerings.

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

But they are as a man transgressing a covenant:

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

there the city Galaad despised me, working vanity, troubling water.

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 your strength [is that] of a robber: the priests have hid the way, they have murdered [the people of] Sicima; for they have wrought iniquity in the house of Israel.

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

I have seen horrible [things] there, [even] the fornication of Ephraim: Israel and Juda are defiled;

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

begin together grapes for yourself, when I turn the captivity of my people.