Chapter 6
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord,(A)
For it is he who has torn, but he will heal us;
he has struck down, but he will bind our wounds.
2 He will revive us after two days;
on the third day[a] he will raise us up,(B)
to live in his presence.
3 Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord;
as certain as the dawn is his coming.
He will come to us like the rain,
like spring rain that waters the earth.”(C)
4 What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your loyalty is like morning mist,
like the dew that disappears early.
5 For this reason I struck them down through the prophets,
I killed them by the words of my mouth;[b](D)
my judgment shines forth like the light.
6 For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.(E)
Further Crimes of Israel
7 But they, at Adam,[c] violated the covenant;
there they betrayed me.
8 Gilead[d] is a city of evildoers,
tracked with blood.
9 Like brigands lying in wait
is the band of priests.
They murder on the road to Shechem,[e]
indeed they commit a monstrous crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing:
there is found Ephraim’s prostitution,
Israel is defiled.
11 For you also, Judah,
a harvest[f] has been appointed!
Footnotes
- 6:2 After two days; on the third day: presumptuous Israel expects that soon God will renew them (cf. Ez 37).
- 6:5 The word of God proclaimed by the prophets is effective, it accomplished what it promised: punishment.
- 6:7 At Adam: the violation of the covenant at Adam is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. The place Adam, the location of which is unknown, may be referred to in Jos 3:16.
- 6:8 Gilead: city in Transjordan (Gn 31:46–48; 2 Kgs 15:25).
- 6:9 Shechem: an important ancient religious and political center (Jos 24).
- 6:11 Harvest: God’s judgment, when Judah will reap what it has sown.