6
Hosea

Call to Repentance and Persistent Rebellion

Hosea 6:1-7:16
1Come, and let us return to the LORD, for he has torn and he will heal us; he has struck and he will bind us up. 2After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us, and we shall live before his face. 3Let us know; let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established like the dawn, and he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the land. 4What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? Your kindness is like a morning cloud, and like dew that rises and departs. 5Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have killed them by the words of my lips, and your judgments come forth as light. 6For I desire kindness and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7But they have transgressed the covenant like Adam; there they have dealt treacherously against me. 8Gilead is a city of those who work evil, treacherous with blood. 9As bands of men lie in wait, so the company of priests murders on the way to Shechem, for they commit wickedness. 10In the house of Israel I have seen horror; there Ephraim commits fornication; Israel is defiled. 11Judah also has appointed a harvest for you when I restore the captivity of my people.
Chapter 7
1When I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim and the harms of Samaria are revealed, for they have practiced deception; the thief comes and the band strips outside. 2They do not say in their heart that I remember all their harm now; their deeds surround them and stand before my face. 3In their harm they make the king glad, and the rulers glad in their lies. 4They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker; he ceases to stir the fire from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5On the day of our king the rulers become weak from wine; he stretches out his hand with the scorners. 6Their heart is like an oven in their ambush; all night they sleep while their baker burns like a flame of fire in the morning. 7They are all hot like an oven and devour their judges; all their kings have fallen; none of them calls to me. 8Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples; Ephraim has become an unturned cake. 9Strangers have devoured his strength, yet he does not know; grey hair is also sprinkled on him, yet he does not know. 10The pride of Israel testifies to his face, yet they have not returned to the LORD their God, nor sought him in all this. 11Ephraim has become like a senseless dove; they call to Egypt and go to Assyria. 12As they go I will spread my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the sky; I will discipline them according to the report to their assembly. 13Woe to them, for they have strayed from me; destruction is theirs because they have rebelled against me; though I would ransom them, they speak lies against me. 14They do not cry to me from their heart, but they wail upon their beds for grain and new wine and turn aside from me. 15Though I disciplined them and strengthened their arms, they plot evil against me. 16They do not return upward; they have become like a treacherous bow; their princes fall by the sword because of the indignation of their tongue; this is their derision in the land of Egypt.
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