Hosea — Chapter 6

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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.

1Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

4O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

1Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him.

3And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.

4O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away.

5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are [as] the light that goeth forth.

6For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

7But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is stained with blood.

9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness.

10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is [found] in Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for thee, when I bring back the captivity of my people.

1Come on! Let’s return to the Lord. He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds!

2He will restore us in a very short time; he will heal us in a little while, so that we may live in his presence.

3So let us search for him! Let us seek to know the Lord! He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn, as certainly as the winter rain comes, as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.

4What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew.

5Therefore, I will certainly cut you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; I will certainly kill you in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment, for my judgment will come forth like the light of the dawn.

6For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings.

7At Adam they broke the covenant; Oh how they were unfaithful to me!

8Gilead is a city full of evildoers; its streets are stained with bloody footprints!

9The company of priests is like a gang of robbers, lying in ambush to pounce on a victim. They commit murder on the road to Shechem; they have done heinous crimes!

10I have seen a disgusting thing in the house of Israel: There Ephraim commits prostitution with other gods, and Israel defiles itself.

11I have appointed a time to reap judgment for you also, O Judah! Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people,

1“Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.

2After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.

3Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”

4“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.

5Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

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

7But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.

8Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.

9As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.

10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.

11“Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.

Summary
Authorship & Background
Map & Geography
Commentary
Videos
Articles
Reflection

Summary

The chapter opens with what appears to be Israel's call to return to the LORD, confidently expecting him to heal what he has torn and to revive them after a short time (vv. 1-3). God responds that their love is fickle, like a morning cloud or dew that vanishes quickly, and that he has used the prophets' words to cut them down in judgment (vv. 4-5). He declares his true desire: steadfast love rather than sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (v. 6). Instead they have broken the covenant like Adam, and priests and people alike are stained with treachery and murder (vv. 7-10). The chapter closes noting that a harvest of judgment is appointed for Judah as well, whenever God restores the fortunes of his people (v. 11).

Authorship & Background

Author: Hosea son of Beeri. Prophesied to the northern kingdom (Israel) approximately 755-715 BC. Contemporary with Isaiah and Micah. Key theme: God's unfailing love for unfaithful Israel, illustrated through Hosea's marriage to Gomer (a prostitute). Despite Israel's spiritual adultery, God says: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (14:4).
Classification: Prophetic Oracle — Superficial Repentance and God's Desire for Steadfast Love
Key Themes: False repentance that evaporates, the third-day resurrection, God's desire for mercy over sacrifice, the knowledge of God, covenant breaking like Adam
Historical Context: Chapter 6 opens with what appears to be a beautiful call to repentance (vv.1-3), but God's response (v.4) reveals it as shallow. Their "goodness" (hesed/love) evaporates like morning dew. This is the tragedy of Israel: not the absence of religious feeling but its shallowness. They come to God with emotion but without substance. God responds with one of the most quoted verses in the prophets: "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice" (v.6) — quoted by Jesus twice (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). The chapter reveals that God's primary desire is not ritual but relationship.
Israel's Call to Repentance (vv.1-3): Come, and let us return unto the LORD. Taken by itself this is the best thing said in the book by anyone other than God. He hath torn and he will heal us, after two days he will revive us, in the third day he will raise us up. It is confident, well phrased, and correct in its theology, and the phrase about the third day has been read as resurrection language ever since. It reads as the answer the previous chapter was waiting for.
God's Lament: Your Love is Like Morning Dew (v.4): God's reply exposes it. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. The word rendered goodness is hesed, covenant loyalty, the very quality God is looking for, and the complaint is not that they lack feeling but that the feeling does not last past the morning. This is the hardest verse in the chapter because the prayer it answers sounded sincere. Repentance that evaporates is the specific failure named here.
God's True Desire: Mercy, Not Sacrifice (vv.5-6): Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets, and my judgments are as the light that goeth forth. Then the verse that outlasts the book: I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. It is not an abolition of the sacrificial system, which God commanded, it is a statement of priority inside it. Jesus quotes it twice, at Matthew 9:13 over eating with tax collectors and at Matthew 12:7 over the Sabbath, both times against people who had the ritual right and the mercy wrong.
The Catalogue of Crimes (vv.7-11): The evidence follows the principle. They like men have transgressed the covenant, which can also be read as they have transgressed like Adam, the first covenant broken in a garden. Then place by place: Gilead a city of workers of iniquity, Shechem a road where priests murder travelers, Bethel the site of lewdness. The priesthood appears here as a gang. Judah is named at the end, with a harvest set for it too.

Map & Geography

Places on this map

  • Gileadnorthern JordanThe wooded highlands east of the Jordan between the Yarmuk and the Arnon, good grazing country and a source of the resin traded as balm. Being across the river left its tribes perpetually worried about being written out of Israel. Wikipedia
  • Jordan RiverIsrael / Jordan borderRuns about 65 miles as the crow flies from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, dropping from 700 to 1,400 feet below sea level. Narrow enough to wade at most fords, it was still the boundary that divided wilderness from inheritance. Wikipedia

Towns sit on their excavated or traditional site. Regions, rivers and seas are ringed rather than dotted, because for those a single point is only an anchor. Coastlines from Natural Earth.

Commentary

  • Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Verse-by-verse commentary on this chapter, written for the everyday reader and freely available online.
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
  • Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

What God Wants - Hosea 6:6
David Guzik

Hosea 6-7 | Mercy, Not Sacrifice | Bible Study
Spoken Gospel

Articles

  • GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Hosea -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.

Reflection

  • Devotion That Evaporates Like Dew (v.4) — God laments that Israel's love disappears as quickly as morning dew, showing genuine grief rather than mere anger over their inconsistency. Does your own devotion to God last beyond a moment of emotion, or does it fade once the feeling passes?
  • Mercy Over Sacrifice (v.6) — God states plainly that He desires mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of Himself rather than mere burnt offerings. Are you substituting religious activity for the compassion and relational faithfulness God actually wants from you?
  • Personal Knowledge, Not Just Facts About God (v.6) — The knowledge God desires here is relational and experiential, not simply theological information. Is your understanding of God producing an actual, personal knowing of Him, or just accurate facts about a distant figure?
  • Repeating Adam's Pattern (v.7) — Israel's covenant-breaking is compared directly to Adam's transgression: given blessing and boundaries, and choosing rebellion anyway. Where in your own life has God given you good gifts and clear boundaries that you've crossed regardless?