Hosea 6:2

Hebrew Bible

1 Come on! Let’s return to the Lord. He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds! 2 He will restore us in a very short time; he will heal us in a little while, so that we may live in his presence. 3 So let us search for him! Let us seek to know the Lord! He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn,as certainly as the winter rain comes, as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land. 4 What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew.

LXX Hosea 6:2

Septuagint

1 In their distress they will approach me early, saying, “Let us go and return to the Lord our God, because it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he will strike down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will make us healthy; on the third day we will rise up and live before him 3 and have knowledge. We will press on to know the Lord; we will find him ready as dawn, and he will come to us like the early and the latter rain to the earth.” 4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Ioudas? Your mercy is like a morning cloud and like morning dew when it goes away.

 Notes and References

"... In its original context, there is little reason to doubt that Hos 6:2 is a reference to the restoration and healing of Israel, and not the resurrection of the dead. In later interpretation, however, probably beginning with the LXX and culminating in the targumic translation, the text was taken to describe the resurrection. W. Edward Glenny notes that for “early readers of the LXX, who were reading Hosea 6:2 in its context, the verse would be understood first of all to refer to the Lord’s restoration of his people, Israel, to himself and the nation’s resurrection back to life after a period, hopefully short (‘the third day’), of his chastisement of them.” He also admits, however, that the combination of “the third day,” “we will rise up” and “we will live” “suggest the resurrection of the dead in Hosea 6:2.” This implies that early readers of the LXX could have interpreted 6:2 to refer to resurrection, and this is reflected in later Jewish interpretation of the passage ..."

Cook, John G. Raised on the Third Day According to the Scriptures: Hosea 6:2 in Jewish Tradition (pp. 188-211) Brill, 2019

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.