Hosea 6

Hosea 6
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4Q166 "The Hosea Commentary Scroll", late first century B.C.
Book	Book of Hosea
Category	Nevi'im
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	28

Hosea 6 is the sixth chapter of the Book of Hosea in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This chapter contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Hosea son of Beeri, about an exhortation to repentance (Hosea 6:1-3) and a complaint against Israel and Judah for persisting still in their wickedness (Hosea 6:4-11).^[3] It is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^[4][5]

Text[]

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 11 verses.

Textual witnesses[]

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[6] Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including 4Q82 (4QXII^g; 25 BCE) with extant verse 3–4, 8–11.^{[7][8][9][10]}

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^Q; 6th century).^[11][a]

Verse 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.^[13]

• "Come and let us return unto the Lord": These words depend closely on the foregoing. They are words put into their mouth by God Himself, with which or with the like, they should exhort one another to return to God. Before, when God smote them, they had gone to Assyria; now they should turn to Him, owning, not only that He who "tore" has the power and the will to "heal" them, but that He tore, "in order to" heal them; He smote them, "in order to" bind them up. This closeness of connection is expressed in the last words; literally, "smite He and He will bind us up."^[14]
• "Let us return": in order that God who has "returned to His place" "may return to us" (Hosea 5:15)^[3]
• "He hath torn, and he will heal us": The presence of the pronoun imparts emphasis to the statement, so that it is rather than "he": "it is that hath torn"; and the preterit of this verse, compared with the future in verse 14 of the foregoing chapter, implies that the destruction there predicted has become an accomplished fact.^[15]
• "He will bind us up": the same hand that has torn will heal and that has smitten will bind up, and none else can; and therefore there is a necessity of returning to him for healing and a cure, Deuteronomy 32:39; and his tearing is in order to heal, and his smiting in order to bind up; and, as sure as he has done the one, he will do the other, and therefore there is great encouragement to apply to him; all which the Jews will be sensible of in the last day; and then the Lord, who is now tearing them in his wrath, and smiting them in his sore displeasure, both in their civil and church state, dispersing them among the nations, and has been so doing for many hundred years, will "bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke of their wound", Isaiah 30:26; and so the Lord deals with all his people, who are truly and really converted by him.^[16]

Verse 2[]

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.^[17]

• "After two days... on the third day": can be rendered as 'after a short while'; cf. 'etmol silsom, 'formerly', literally, 'yesterday, the third day'.^[18]

See also[]

• Ephraim
• Gilead
• Israel
• Judah
• Related Bible parts: Psalm 1, Isaiah 30, Hosea 5, John 7

Notes[]

References[]

Sources[]

• Collins, John J. (2014). Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451469233.
• Day, John (2007). "27. Hosea". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 571–578. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2008). A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 9780802862419.
• Hayes, Christine (2015). Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300188271.
• Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill.
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

External links[]

Jewish[]

• Hosea 6 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Hosea 6 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian[]

• Hosea 6 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate