Hosea 6:3-11

3 Let's learn about the LORD. Let's get to know the LORD. He will come to us as sure as the morning comes. He will come to us like the autumn rains and the spring rains that water the ground.

4 "What should I do with you, Ephraim? What should I do with you, Judah? Your love is like fog in the morning. It disappears as quickly as the morning dew.

5 That is why I cut [you] down by sending the prophets. I killed you with the words from my mouth. My judgments shined on you like light.

6 I want your loyalty, not your sacrifices. I want you to know me, not to give me burnt offerings.

7 "Like Adam, you rejected the promise. You were unfaithful to me.

8 Gilead is a city filled with troublemakers. It is stained with bloody footprints.

9 The priests are like gangs of robbers who lie in ambush for a person. They murder on the road to Shechem. Certainly, they have committed a crime.

10 "I have seen horrible things in the nation of Israel. Ephraim is acting like a prostitute, and Israel is unclean.

11 "Yet, Judah, I have set a harvest time for you when I bring my people back from captivity.

Hosea 6:3-11 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.