# Hosea 06 📖: Come, Let Us Return [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Hosea Overview]] | [[Hosea 05]] | [[Hosea 07]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness [[#Verse 01.]] Come on! Let’s return to the Lord. He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds! [[#Verse 02.]] He will restore us in a very short time; he will heal us in a little while, so that we may live in his presence. [[#Verse 03.]] So let us search for him! Let us seek to know the Lord! He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn, as certainly as the winter rain comes, as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land. ### Transitory Faithfulness and Imminent Judgment [[#Verse 04.]] What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew. [[#Verse 05.]] Therefore, I will certainly cut you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; I will certainly kill you in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment, for my judgment will come forth like the light of the dawn. [[#Verse 06.]] For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. ### Indictments Against the Cities of Israel and Judah [[#Verse 07.]] At Adam they broke the covenant; Oh how they were unfaithful to me! [[#Verse 08.]] Gilead is a city full of evildoers; its streets are stained with bloody footprints! [[#Verse 09.]] The company of priests is like a gang of robbers, lying in ambush to pounce on a victim. They commit murder on the road to Shechem; they have done heinous crimes! [[#Verse 10.]] I have seen a disgusting thing in the house of Israel: there Ephraim commits prostitution with other gods, and Israel defiles itself. [[#Verse 11.]] I have appointed a time to reap judgment for you also, O Judah! ### If Israel Would Repent of Sin, God Would Relent of Judgment Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people, ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Jesus quotes 6:6 twice in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 9:13; 12:7). 2. The Hebrew word for "faithful love" in 6:4 and 6:6 is *hesed*, God's loyal covenant love. 3. Many Christians see 6:2 ("on the third day") as foreshadowing the resurrection, though in context it speaks of Israel's restoration. 4. Israel depended on winter and spring rains for its crops, which is why 6:3 compares God's coming to rain. 5. The morning mist and dew (6:4) disappear quickly under the Middle Eastern sun. 6. "Like Adam" (6:7) may refer to the first man or to the town of Adam near the Jordan (Joshua 3:16). 7. Gilead (6:8) was east of the Jordan, and Hosea calls it a city of evildoers. 8. Shechem (6:9) was one of the cities of refuge (Joshua 20:7), yet priests committed murder on the road to it. 9. Some scholars think the words of 6:1-3 are a shallow repentance that God answers with sorrow in 6:4. 10. Knowing God is a key theme in Hosea, appearing here in 6:3 and 6:6. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One raised on the third day. Israel hoped God would revive them after two days and raise them on the third (6:2), and Jesus was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:4). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. The people say, "Come, let us return to the Lord" (6:1). What does genuine returning to God look like? 2. Israel's love was like a morning mist that quickly disappears (6:4). What makes our devotion to God shallow at times? 3. God desires faithful love more than sacrifice (6:6). Why did Jesus quote this verse to religious leaders (Matthew 9:13)? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Come, let us return to the Lord, for He will heal us. - 📖 verse 3: Let us strive to know the Lord, as sure as the dawn and the spring rains. - 📖 verse 6: God delights in faithful love more than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[1 Corinthians 15#Verse 03.|1 Corinthians 15:3-4]] - Christ was raised on the third day. - 🔗 [[Matthew 09#Verse 13.|Matthew 9:13]] - I desire mercy, not sacrifice. - 🔗 [[Matthew 12#Verse 07.|Matthew 12:7]] - Jesus quotes Hosea to the Pharisees. - 🔗 [[1 Samuel 15#Verse 22.|1 Samuel 15:22]] - To obey is better than sacrifice. - 🔗 [[James 05#Verse 07.|James 5:7]] - The farmer waits for the early and late rains. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Hosea 06 - SOAP|Return to the LORD]] ## 📂 Internal Notes