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Israel Rejected the Lord’s Promise

Let’s return to the Lord.
Even though he has torn us to pieces,
he will heal us.
Even though he has wounded us,
he will bandage our wounds.
After two days he will revive us.
On the third day he will raise us
so that we may live in his presence.
Let’s learn about the Lord.
Let’s get to know the Lord.
He will come to us as sure as the morning comes.
He will come to us like the autumn rains and the spring rains
that water the ground.

“What should I do with you, Ephraim?
What should I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like fog in the morning.
It disappears as quickly as the morning dew.
That is why I cut ⌞you⌟ down by sending the prophets.
I killed you with the words from my mouth.
My judgments shined on you like light.
I want your loyalty, not your sacrifices.
I want you to know me, not to give me burnt offerings.

“Like Adam, you rejected the promise.[a]
You were unfaithful to me.
Gilead is a city filled with troublemakers.
It is stained with bloody footprints.
The priests are like gangs of robbers who lie in ambush for a person.
They murder on the road to Shechem.
Certainly, they have committed a crime.

10 “I have seen horrible things in the nation of Israel.
Ephraim is acting like a prostitute,
and Israel is unclean.[b]

11 “Yet, Judah, I have set a harvest time for you
when I bring my people back from captivity.

Footnotes

  1. 6:7 Or “You have walked all over my promise as if it were dirt.”
  2. 6:10 Unclean   ” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God.

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.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

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.

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.

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.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

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 an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.