Hosea 6

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¹Come, 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. ✦ ²After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. ✦ ³Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. ✦ ⁴O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. ✦ ⁵Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. ✦ ⁶For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. ✦ ⁷But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. ✦ ⁸Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. ✦ ⁹And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. ✦ ¹⁰I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. ✦ ¹¹Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Jer 5 ·6 Hos 5 ·5 Jer 3 ·5 Hos 4 ·4 Hos 14 ·3 Hos 13 ·3 1 Kgs 12 ·2 Isa 5 ·2

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 6YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Hosea 6David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Hosea 6Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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