Hosea 6 - New Revised Standard Version

A Call to Repentance

¹ “Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, 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 before him.

³ Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

⁴ What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.

⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.

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

⁷ But at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

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

⁹ As robbers lie in wait for someone, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the road to Shechem, they commit a monstrous crime.

¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim's whoredom is there, Israel is defiled.

¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I would restore the fortunes of my people,