¹“Come, let us return to the Lord,

For he tore apart,

But he will heal us.

He struck,

But he will bind us up.

²He will make us alive after two days;

On the third day he will raise us up,

And we will live in his presence.

³And we will know, saying,

‘Let us follow so as to know the Lord.

His rising is like the steady dawn,

And he will come like rain on us,

Like the late and early rain on the land.’ ”

⁴What shall I do to you, Ephraim?

What shall I do to you, Judah?

For the compassion you show

Is just as a cloud in the morning,

And like the early dew,

Which goes away.

⁵That is why I have hewn into the prophets;

I have killed them by the words of my mouth,

And my judgments on you go forth like light.

⁶For I desired mercy

And not sacrifice,

And knowledge of God

Rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant;

There, they dealt treacherously with me.

⁸Gilead is a town of workers of iniquity

– A town stained with blood.

⁹And as gangs wait for a man,

So is a company of priests.

On the road to Shechem they commit murder,

For they perpetrate wickedness.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.

In that place there is the prostitution of Ephraim.

Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, Judah,

He has appointed a reaping time,

When I reverse the captivity of my people.

Reference(s) in Chapter 6: v.6 ↔ Matthew 9:13, Matthew 12:7.