English Standard Version
Hosea 12:6
6"So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God."
Hosea 12:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
- New International Version (NIV)But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.
- New King James Version (NKJV)So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, And wait on your God continually.
- New Living Translation (NLT)So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him.
Context of Hosea 12:6
4He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us— 5the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name: "So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God." 7A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress. 8Ephraim has said, "Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin."
Read all of Hosea 12Hosea 12:6 word by word
וְאַתָּ֖ה בֵּאלֹהֶ֣יךָ תָשׁ֑וּב חֶ֤סֶד וּמִשְׁפָּט֙ שְׁמֹ֔ר וְקַוֵּ֥ה אֶל־אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ תָּמִֽיד׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 12:6
- Hosea 14:1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
- Proverbs 1:23If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
- Isaiah 31:6Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
- Isaiah 55:6"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
- Jeremiah 3:14Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
- Lamentations 3:39Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
- Joel 2:13and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
- Zechariah 1:3Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
- Acts 2:38And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Acts 26:20but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
- Hosea 4:1Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
- Proverbs 21:3To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
- Isaiah 1:16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
- Isaiah 58:6"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
- Jeremiah 22:15Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
- Amos 5:24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Commentaries on Hosea 12:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6Therefore 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.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6Therefore 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”…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6The Lord urged Israel to stop living like Jacob. Instead, they should return to God and act with love and justice.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. 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--(Mi 6:8). These two include the second-table commandments, duty towards one's neighbor, the most visible test of the sincerity on one's repentance. wait on thy God--alone, not on thy idols. Including all the duties of the first table (Psa 37:3, 5, 7; 40:1).Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 12:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries