4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
    What do I make of you, Judah?
Your declarations of love last no longer
    than morning mist and predawn dew.
That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,
    why my words cut you to the quick:
To wake you up to my judgment
    blazing like light.
I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.
    I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.
You broke the covenant—just like Adam!
    You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!

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For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,(A)
    and acknowledgment(B) of God rather than burnt offerings.(C)
As at Adam,[a] they have broken the covenant;(D)
    they were unfaithful(E) to me there.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:7 Or Like Adam; or Like human beings