Hosea 6

¹ “Come! Let’s return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.

² After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.

³ Let’s acknowledge the LORD. Let’s press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, the LORD will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”

⁴ “Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.

⁵ Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

⁶ For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

⁷ But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me there.

⁸ Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.

⁹ As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.

¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.

¹¹ “Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.

Around Hosea 6

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Hosea as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

God tells Hosea to take a wife who will not be faithful to him, and from that moment the prophet’s own home becomes a picture of God and Israel. The book moves between accusation and tenderness. Israel has chased other gods and trusted foreign powers, and it has been told so. Yet God cannot give his people up.

In chapter 11 God speaks like a parent: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him,” and “I taught Ephraim to walk.” Then comes the cry that gives the book its heart: “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” It ends with a call to return and a promise of healing.

Background

Hosea prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century before Christ, in its last prosperous and then chaotic decades before Assyria destroyed it. He spoke to a land that still seemed secure and was close to its end.

How Christians read it

Readers have asked whether the marriage was a real one or a parable; most take it as real. The book’s picture of God as a husband wronged and as a parent teaching a child to walk (chapter 11) is among the most moving in the prophets. Jesus twice quotes its line that God desires mercy and not sacrifice, and Matthew applies 11:1 to Jesus’ childhood.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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