Hosea 6

1 'Come, and we turn back unto Jehovah, For He hath torn, and He doth heal us, He doth smite, and He bindeth us up.

Come, let us go back to the Lord; for he has given us wounds and he will make us well; he has given blows and he will give help.

2 He doth revive us after two days, In the third day He doth raise us up, And we live before Him.

After two days he will give us life, and on the third day he will make us get up, and we will be living before him.

3 And we know — we pursue to know Jehovah, As the dawn prepared is His going forth, And He cometh in as a shower to us, As gathered rain — sprinkling earth.'

And let us have knowledge, let us go after the knowledge of the Lord; his going out is certain as the dawn, his decisions go out like the light; he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.

4 What do I do to thee, O Ephraim? What do I do to thee, O Judah? Your goodness [is] as a cloud of the morning, And as dew rising early — going.

O Ephraim, what am I to do to you? O Judah, what am I to do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew which goes early away.

5 Therefore I have hewed by prophets, I have slain them by sayings of My mouth, And My judgments to the light goeth forth.

So I have had it cut in stones; I gave them teaching by the words of my mouth;

6 For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

7 And they, as Adam, transgressed a covenant, There they dealt treacherously against me.

But like a man, they have gone against the agreement; there they were false to me.

8 Gilead [is] a city of workers of iniquity, Slippery from blood.

Gilead is a town of evil-doers, marked with blood.

9 And as bands do wait for a man, A company of priests do murder — the way to Shechem, For wickedness they have done.

And like a band of thieves waiting for a man, so are the priests watching secretly the way of those going quickly to Shechem, for they are working with an evil design.

10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing, There [is] the whoredom of Ephraim — defiled is Israel.

In Israel I have seen a very evil thing; there false ways are seen in Ephraim, Israel is unclean;

11 Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back [to] the captivity of My people!

And Judah has put up disgusting images for himself.