Hosea 6:1-7:7

New King James Version

A Call to Repentance

6 Come,^(A) and let us return to the Lord;
For ^(B)He has torn, but ^(C)He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will ^[a]bind us up.
²^(D)After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
³^(E)Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established ^(F)as the morning;
^(G)He will come to us ^(H)like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

⁴“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by ^(I)the words of My mouth;
And ^[b]your judgments are like light that goes forth.
⁶For I desire ^(J)mercy^[c] and ^(K)not sacrifice,
And the ^(L)knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

⁷“But like ^[d]men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
⁸^(M)Gilead is a city of evildoers
And ^[e]defiled with blood.
⁹As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of ^(N)priests ^(O)murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit ^(P)lewdness.
¹⁰I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the ^[f]harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
¹¹Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.

Israel Has Rebelled Against God

7 “When I would have healed Israel,
Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria.
For ^(Q)they have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers ^[g]takes spoil outside.
²They ^[h]do not consider in their hearts
That ^(R)I remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
³They make a ^(S)king glad with their wickedness,
And princes ^(T)with their lies.

⁴“They^(U) are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.
⁵In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, ^[i]inflamed with ^(V)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
⁶They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
^[j]Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
⁷They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
^(W)None among them calls upon Me.