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Youngs Literal Translation

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.
2 He doth revive us after two days, In the third day He doth raise us up, And we live 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.'
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.
5 Therefore I have hewed by prophets, I have slain them by sayings of My mouth, And My judgments to the light goeth forth.
6 For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings.
7 And they, as Adam, transgressed a covenant, There they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead [is] a city of workers of iniquity, Slippery from 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.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing, There [is] the whoredom of Ephraim -- defiled is Israel.
11 Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back [to] the captivity of My people!

Chapter Summary

Israel's repentance is fleeting like morning mist, for God desires mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God.

Book Summary

Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful wife becomes a living parable of God's covenant love for wayward Israel. The book exposes Israel's spiritual adultery while revealing a divine love that will not let His people go.