“Come, and let us return to YAHWEH1;
For he has torn us to pieces,
And he will heal us;
He has injured us,
And he will bind up our wounds.
2After two days will he revive us.
On the third day he will raise us up,
And we will live before him.
3Let us acknowledge YAHWEH.
Let us press on to know YAHWEH.
As surely as the sun rises,
YAHWEH 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.
5Therefore 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.
6For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;2
And the knowledge of God3 more than burnt offerings.
7But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant.
They were unfaithful to me there.
8Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity;
It is stained with blood.
9As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,
So the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem,
Committing shameful crimes.
10In 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.”
- 6:1 YAHWEH, the name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 6:6 I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, quoted by Prophet ‘ISA in the Injil, Matthew 9:13 in response to religious leaders who criticized him for associating with sinful but ordinary people. Matthew 9:12-13 says: When ‘ISA heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Quoted again by Prophet ‘ISA in Matthew 12:7 in response to further criticisms from the religious elite, where he says: “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” ↩︎ - 6:6 God, English translation of elohim. Elohim (Hebrew) is related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎