Hosea 6–7

A Call to Repentance

6Come, ^aand let us return to the Lord;

For ^bHe has torn, but ^cHe will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will ¹bind us up.

^2dAfter two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,

That we may live in His sight.

^3eLet us know,

Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

His going forth is established ^fas the morning;

^gHe will come to us ^hlike 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 ⁱthe words of My mouth;

And ²your judgments are like light that goes forth.

⁶For I desire ^jmercy ³and ^knot sacrifice,

And the ^lknowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

⁷“But like ⁴men they transgressed the covenant;

There they dealt treacherously with Me.

^8mGilead is a city of evildoers

And ⁵defiled with blood.

⁹As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,

So the company of ⁿpriests ^omurder on the way to Shechem;

Surely they commit ^plewdness.

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

There is the ⁶harlotry of Ephraim;

Israel is defiled.

¹¹Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,

When I return the captives of My people.

7“When I would have healed Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,

And the wickedness of Samaria.

For ^athey have committed fraud;

A thief comes in;

A band of robbers ¹takes spoil outside.

²They ²do not consider in their hearts

That ^bI remember all their wickedness;

Now their own deeds have surrounded them;

They are before My face.

³They make a ^cking glad with their wickedness,

And princes ^dwith their lies.

⁴“They ^eare 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, ³inflamed with ^fwine;

He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

⁶They prepare their heart like an oven,

While they lie in wait;

⁴Their 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.

^gNone among them calls upon Me.

⁸“Ephraim ^hhas mixed himself among the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake unturned.

⁹ⁱAliens have devoured his strength,

But he does not know it;

Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,

Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰And the ^jpride of Israel testifies to his face,

But ^kthey do not return to the Lord their God,

Nor seek Him for all this.

Futile Reliance on the Nations

¹¹“Ephraim ^lalso is like a silly dove, without ⁵sense—

^mThey call to Egypt,

They go to ⁿAssyria.

¹²Wherever they go, I will ^ospread My net on them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air;

I will chastise them

^pAccording to what their congregation has heard.

¹³“Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!

Destruction to them,

Because they have transgressed against Me!

Though ^qI redeemed them,

Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

^14rThey did not cry out to Me with their heart

When they wailed upon their beds.

“They ⁶assemble together for grain and new ^swine,

⁷They rebel against Me;

¹⁵Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,

Yet they devise evil against Me;

¹⁶They return, but not ⁸to the Most High;

^tThey are like a treacherous bow.

Their princes shall fall by the sword

For the ^ucursings of their tongue.

This shall be their derision ^vin the land of Egypt.