Hosea 6

1 “Let us go and return to the Lord our God, because he seized us, and he will heal us; he struck us, and he will bind our wounds.

2 After two days he will make us well; on the third day we will rise and live before him.

3 We will know him; we will press on to know the Lord. We will find him as ready as the dawn, and he will come to us like rain, like the early and later rain upon the land.”

4 “What will I do with you, Ephraim? What will I do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like a morning cloud, like early dew that disappears.

5 Therefore I harvested your prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth, and my judgment will go out like light.

6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than whole burnt offerings.

7 But they are like a man breaking a covenant; there he despised me.

8 Gilead is a city that does empty things and troubles water.

9 Your strength is like that of a pirate. Priests hid the Lord’s road and murdered people at Shechem, because they committed lawlessness.

10 In the house of Israel I saw horrible things: Ephraim’s whoring was there, and Israel and Judah were defiled.

11 Begin harvesting for yourself when I restore my people from captivity.”