6
1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord:
For he hath torn, and he will heal us;
He hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us:
In the third day he will raise us up,
And we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord:
His going forth is prepared as the morning;
And he shall come unto us as the rain,
As the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?
O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?
For your goodness is as a morning cloud,
And as the early dew it goeth away.
5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth:
And thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice;
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant:
There have they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity,
And is polluted with blood.
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man,
So the company of priests murder in the way by consent:
For they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee,
When I returned the captivity of my people.