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A Call to Repentance

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
    now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
    now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
    so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the Lord!
    Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
    or the coming of rains in early spring.”

“O Israel[a] and Judah,
    what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
    and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
    to slaughter you with my words,
    with judgments as inescapable as light.
I want you to show love,[b]
    not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me[c]
    more than I want burnt offerings.
But like Adam,[d] you broke my covenant
    and betrayed my trust.

“Gilead is a city of sinners,
    tracked with footprints of blood.
Priests form bands of robbers,
    waiting in ambush for their victims.
They murder travelers along the road to Shechem
    and practice every kind of sin.
10 Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:
    My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!

11 “O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,
    though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.

Footnotes

  1. 6:4 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
  2. 6:6a Greek version translates this Hebrew term as to show mercy. Compare Matt 9:13; 12:7.
  3. 6:6b Hebrew to know God.
  4. 6:7 Or But at Adam.

Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

“Come, let us (A)return to the Lord;
    for (B)he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and (C)he will bind us up.
After two days (D)he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
(E)Let us know; (F)let us press on to know the Lord;
    (G)his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us (H)as the showers,
    (I)as the spring rains that water the earth.”

What shall I do with you, (J)O (K)Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O (L)Judah?
Your love is (M)like a morning cloud,
    (N)like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them (O)by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For (P)I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice,
    (Q)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

But (R)like Adam they (S)transgressed the covenant;
    (T)there they dealt faithlessly with me.
(U)Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    (V)tracked with blood.
As robbers (W)lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to (X)Shechem;
    they commit villainy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    (Y)Ephraim's whoredom is there; (Z)Israel is defiled.

11 For you also, O (AA)Judah, (AB)a harvest is appointed.

When (AC)I restore the fortunes of my people,

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:6 Septuagint mercy