Hosea 6

‘The people of Israel and Judah will say:

“Let us go back to the Lord.

He is the One who has punished

and wounded us,

but He will heal us again.

He is the One who has hurt us,

but He will help us get better.

₂He will heal us after 2 days.

He will raise us on the 3rd day

so that we can live like He wants us to live.

₃We must know the Lord.

We must try hard to be near Him.

He will come to us, that is sure,

as sure as the sun comes up in the morning.

He will come like rain that falls in spring time

to give water to the ground.” ’

‘People of Israel and Judah,

what must I do with you?

Your love is like a cloud

or like dew in the morning.

Early in the morning it is there,

but it disappears quickly.

₅That is why I have sent the prophets to you

to talk to you in a hard way,

and to tell you that you will die.

I wanted to punish you,

as sure as the sun comes up every day.

₆I wanted you to love Me always

and to be faithful.

That is more important to Me

than the offerings you give Me.

You must know the Lord.

That is more important to Me

than your burnt-offerings.

₇You have broken your covenant with Me,

like Adam and all people have done.

You were all unfaithful to Me.

₈All the people in the land of Gilead did wrong,

and they killed a lot of people.

₉The priests were like robbers

lying next to the road to the town of Shechem,

waiting to attack and kill people.

They did very bad things.

₁₀I have seen something very bad in Israel.

The Israelites are unfaithful to Me,

and they make themselves impure.’

‘When I am with my people again,

I will also bless you, people of Judah.’