Hosea 6

¹“Come, let us return to the Lord ,[#Lam 3:40.]

For it is he who has torn, but he will heal us;

he has struck down, but he will bind our wounds.

²He will revive us after two days;

on the third day he will raise us up,

to live in his presence.

³Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord ;

as certain as the dawn is his coming.

He will come to us like the rain,

like spring rain that waters the earth.”

⁴What can I do with you, Ephraim?

What can I do with you, Judah?

Your loyalty is like morning mist,

like the dew that disappears early.

⁵For this reason I struck them down through the prophets,

I killed them by the words of my mouth;

my judgment shines forth like the light.

⁶For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice,

and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But they, at Adam, violated the covenant;[#: the violation of the covenant at Adam is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. The place Adam, the location of which is unknown, may be referred to in Jos 3:16.]

there they betrayed me.

⁸Gilead is a city of evildoers,[#: city in Transjordan (Gn 31:46–48; 2 Kgs 15:25).]

tracked with blood.

⁹Like brigands lying in wait

is the band of priests.

They murder on the road to Shechem,

indeed they commit a monstrous crime.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing:

there is found Ephraim’s prostitution,

Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, Judah,

a harvest has been appointed!