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Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
Hosea 6:1 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
  • KJV Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
  • NKJV Come,and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
  • NASB “Come, let’s return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
  • NLT “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The people call one another to return to the LORD, confident that the God who wounded them will also heal and restore.

Overview

These verses voice a summons to repentance, recognizing that the same God who tore them in judgment will bind up their wounds. While some read this as sincere and others as a shallow, presumptuous confidence (given God's rebuke in v.4), the theology is sound: the LORD heals those who return to Him. The hope of healing through the One who struck looks ahead to Christ, by whose wounds we are healed.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Job 5:18For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
  • Deut 32:39See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
  • 1 Sam 2:6The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
  • Lam 3:40–41Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
  • Hos 14:4I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.
  • Isa 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
  • Job 34:29But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,
  • Isa 2:3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
  • Jer 30:17But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”
  • Hos 14:1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
  • Hos 13:7–9So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
  • Lam 3:32–33Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
  • Jer 50:4“In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the children of Israel and the children of Judah will come together, weeping as they come, and will seek the LORD their God.
  • Isa 30:26The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.
  • Jer 3:22“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
  • Hos 5:12–15So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
  • Ps 30:7O LORD, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
  • Jer 33:5The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness.
  • Jer 30:12For this is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.
  • Isa 30:22So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
  • Zeph 2:1Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation,

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 6:1YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.

How Hosea 6:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.