Hosea 6:4-11

The Lord's First Lament

4 What am I going to do with you, Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, Judah? Your loyalty is like the morning mist and like the early dew that vanishes.

5 This is why I have used the prophets to cut them down;^[a] I have killed them with the words of My mouth. My judgment strikes like lightning.^[b]

6 For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.^[c]

7 But they, like Adam,^[d] have violated the covenant; there they have betrayed Me.

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with bloody footprints.

9 Like robbers who wait in ambush for someone, a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem. They commit atrocities.

10 I have seen something horrible in the house of Israel: Ephraim's promiscuity is there; Israel is defiled.

11 A harvest is also appointed for you, Judah. When I^[e] return My people from captivity,

Hosea 6:4-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 6

This chapter gives an account of some who were truly penitent, and stirred up one another to return to the Lord, encouraged by his power, grace, and goodness, Ho 6:1-3; and of others, who had only a form of religion, were very unstable in it; regarded more the ceremonial law, and the external sacrifices of it, than the moral law; either that part of it which respects the love of the neighbour, or that which concerns the knowledge of God; and dealt treacherously with the Lord, transgressing the covenant, Ho 6:4-7; particularly the city of Gilead is represented as full of the workers of iniquity, and is charged with bloodshed, Ho 6:8; yea, even the priests were guilty of murder and lewdness, Ho 6:9; and Israel, or the ten tribes in general, are accused of whoredom, both corporeal and spiritual, with which they were defiled, Ho 6:10; nor was Judah clear of these crimes, and therefore a reckoning day is set for them, Ho 6:11.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or have cut down the prophets
• [b]. LXX, Syr, Tg; MT reads Your judgments go out as light
• [c]. Mt 9:13; 12:7
• [d]. Or they, as at Adam, or they, like men,
• [e]. Or you. Judah, when I