Hosea 12:6
in Hosea 12But you must return to your God, maintaining love and justice, and always waiting on your God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for thy God continually.
KJV
Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
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This verse in Hosea 12
Commentary
10 notes on this verseTherefore turn thou to thy God - Because he is the same, and cannot change. Seek him as faithfully and as fervently as Jacob did, and you will find him the same merciful and compassionate Being.
This site's exposition
keep mercy and judgment
on Hosea 12:6-8
Therefore turn thou to thy God applies Jacob's own history directly to his descendants, keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually naming the very virtues Jacob learned through decades of exile and struggle. Verse 7 turns to Ephraim as a merchant with balances of deceit, loving to oppress, the patriarch's own early cunning (his name meaning supplanter) resurfacing in the nation's commerce, and Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich answers every accusation with self-justification, wealth mistaken for innocence, in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin standing as the boast the rest of the book answers.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The judgment therefore of the Lord with Judah: and a visitation upon Jacob. He will render to him according to his ways, and according to his inventions he will recompense him. In the womb he supplanted his brother: and in his strength he had success with the angel, and he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us.
Combine justice with mercy, spending in mercy what you possess with justice. It is written, "Keep mercy and justice, and draw near to thy God always." Because God loves mercy and justice, he who takes care to do mercy and justice draws near to God.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Mercy - Shew kindness to all who need it. Judgment - Wrong none; but with justice in dealings, in judicatures; and public offices, render to every one their due. Wait on thy God - In public worship and private duties serve and trust God alone: let not idols have either sacrifice, prayer, praise, or trust from you; and let your hope and worship, be forever continued.
Here are intermixed, in these verses, I. When God is coming forth to contend with a people, that he may demonstrate his own righteousness, he will demonstrate their unrighteousness. Ephraim was called to turn to his God and keep judgment (
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); now, to show that he had need of that call, he is charged with turning from his God by idolatry, and breaking the laws of justice and judgment. He is here charged with injustice against the precepts of the second table,
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3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Therefore turn thou to thy God,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
thou--who dost wish to be a true descendant of Jacob. to THY God--who is therefore bound by covenant to hear thy prayers. keep mercy and judgment-- (Mic 6:8).
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A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore turn thou to thy God - (Literally, “And thou, thou shalt turn” so as to lean “on thy God.”) “And thou” unlike, he would say, as thou art to thy great forefather, now at least, “turn to thy God;” hope in Him, as Jacob hoped; and thou too shalt be accepted. God was the Same. They then had only to turn to Him in truth, and they too would find Him, such as Jacob their father had found Him, and then “trust in him continually. mercy and judgment” include all our duty to our neighbor, love and justice. The prophet. selects the duties of the second table, as Micah also places them first, “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?” Mic 6:8, and our Lord chooses those same commandments, in answer to the rich young man, who asked him, “What shall I do, in order to enter into life?” Mat 19:17. For people cannot deceive themselves so easily about their duties to their neighbor, as about their duty to God. It was in love to his neighbor that the rich young man failed. Thou shalt turn - that is, it is commonly said, thou oughtest to turn; as our’s has it, “turn.” But it may also include the promise that, at one time, “Israel shall turn to the Lord,” as Paul says, “so shall all Israel be saved.” And wait on thy God continually - If they did so, they should not wait in vain. : “This word, “continually,” hath no small weight in it, shewing with what circumstances or properties their waiting or hope on God ought to be attended; that it ought to be on Him alone, on Him always, without doubting, fainting, failing, intermission or ceasing, in all occasions and conditions which may befall them, without exception of time, even in their adversity.” “Turn to ‘thy’ God,” he saith, “wait on ‘thy’ God,” as the great ground of repentance and of trust. […]
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאַתָּ֖ה | veatah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| בֵּאלֹהֶ֣יךָ | beloheikha | in God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| תָשׁ֑וּב | tashuv | you will return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| חֶ֤סֶד | chesed | loyalty | H2617 → | 247 times |
| וּמִשְׁפָּט֙ | umishpat | and justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| שְׁמֹ֔ר | shemor | keep | H8104 → | 468 times |
| וְקַוֵּ֥ה | vekaveh | and wait | H6960 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| תָּמִֽיד׃ | tamid | continually | H8548 → |
וְאַתָּ֖הand you
veatahH859 →1094 times
בֵּאלֹהֶ֣יךָin God your
beloheikhaH430 →2601 times
תָשׁ֑וּבyou will return
tashuvH7725 →1056 times
חֶ֤סֶדloyalty
chesedH2617 →247 times
וּמִשְׁפָּט֙and justice
umishpatH4941 →422 times
שְׁמֹ֔רkeep
shemorH8104 →468 times
וְקַוֵּ֥הand wait
vekavehH6960 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
תָּמִֽיד׃continually
tamidH8548 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Micah 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 10:12–13
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…
- Proverbs 21:3
To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
- Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- Jeremiah 22:3
This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.…
- Hosea 6:6
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- Deuteronomy 10:12–13
Through
Micah 7:7But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:25–26
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- Psalms 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
- 1 John 5:14–15
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- Lamentations 3:25–26
Where this verse is studied
About Hosea
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Basil of Caesarea, HOMILY ON MERCY AND JUSTICE; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 12:2-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.