Hosea (Douay: Osee) 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.

¹ IIn their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord.

² For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us.

³ He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth.

⁴ What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning.

⁵ For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light.

⁶ For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts.

⁷ But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have they dealt treacherously against me.

⁸ Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood.

⁹ And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out of Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness.

¹⁰ I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled.

¹¹ And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back the captivity of my people.