Hosea 6–7: I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice": The Morning Mist
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible
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.After two days he will revive us;on the third day he will raise us up,that we may live in his presence.So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD.As surely as the sun rises,he will appear;he will come to us like the rain,like the spring showers that water the earth.
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?What shall I do with you, O Judah?For your loyalty is like a morning mist,like the early dew that vanishes.Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;I have slain them by the words of my mouth,and my judgments go forth like lightning.For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,and the knowledge of Godrather than burnt offerings.
But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant;there they were unfaithful to me.Gilead is a city of evildoers,tracked with footprints of blood.Like raiders who lie in ambush,so does a band of priests;they murder on the way to Shechem;surely they have committed atrocities.In the house of IsraelI have seen a horrible thing:Ephraim practices prostitution there,and Israel is defiled.
Also for you, O Judah,a harvest is appointed,when I restoremy people from captivity.When I heal Israel,the iniquity of Ephraim will be exposed,as well as the crimes of Samaria.For they practice deceit and thieves break in;bandits raid in the streets.But they fail to consider in their heartsthat I remember all their evil.Now their deeds are all around them;they are before my face.
They delight the king with their evil,and the princes with their lies.They are all adulterers,like an oven heated by a bakerwho needs not stoke the firefrom the kneading to the rising of the dough.The princes are inflamed with wineon the day of our king;so he joins handswith those who mock him.For they prepare their heart like an ovenwhile they lie in wait;all night their anger smolders;in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.All of them are hot as an oven,and they devour their rulers.All their kings fall;not one of them calls upon me.
Ephraim mixes with the nations;Ephraim is an unturned cake.Foreigners consume his strength,but he does not notice.Even his hair is streaked with gray,but he does not know.Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,yet they do not return to the LORD their God;despite all this, they do not seek him.
So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.As they go, I will spread my net over them;I will bring them down like birds of the air.I will chastise themwhen I hear them flocking together.
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!Though I would redeem them,they speak lies against me.They do not cry out to me from their heartswhen they wail upon their beds.They slash themselves for grain and new wine,but turn away from me.Although I trained and strengthened their arms,they plot evil against me.They turn, but not to the Most High;they are like a faulty bow.Their leaders will fall by the swordfor the cursing of their tongue;for this they will be ridiculedin the land of Egypt.