Hosea 6

¹Come, 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.

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

³So 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.

⁴What 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.

⁵Therefore I have hewn [them] by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.

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

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

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

⁹Like raiders who lie in ambush, [so does] a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.

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

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