Tree of Life Version
Hosea 6:6
6For I delight in loyalty and not sacrifice, knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
- New International Version (NIV)For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Context of Hosea 6:6
4“O Ephraim, what shall I do for you? O Judah, what will I do for you? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud or like dew rising early, vanishing. 5Therefore I cut them down by the prophets. I slew them by the words of My mouth. Now the judgments pronounced against you: light will go forth. For I delight in loyalty and not sacrifice, knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7But like Adam, they transgressed a covenant. There they dealt treacherously with Me. 8Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with bloody footprints.
Read all of Hosea 6Hosea 6:6 word by word
כִּ֛י חֶ֥סֶד חָפַ֖צְתִּי וְלֹא־זָ֑בַח וְדַ֥עַת אֱלֹהִ֖ים מֵעֹלֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 6:6
- 1 Samuel 15:22Samuel said: “Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay heed than the fat of rams.
- Psalms 50:8I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, for your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
- Proverbs 21:3To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Adonai than sacrifice.
- Ecclesiastes 5:1Do not be quick with your mouth nor hasty in your heart to utter a word in God’s presence. For God is in heaven, and you are on the earth— therefore, let your words be few.
- Isaiah 1:11“For what is it to Me— the multitude of your sacrifices?” says Adonai. “I am full of burnt offerings of rams and fat of fed animals. I have no delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or he-goats.
- Isaiah 58:6“Is not this the fast I choose: to release the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to tear off every yoke?
- Jeremiah 7:22For on the day that I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt I did not speak to them nor did I command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices,
- Daniel 4:27the king exclaimed, “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Amos 5:21“I hate, I despise your festivals! I take no delight in your sacred assemblies.
- Micah 6:6With what shall I come before Adonai? With what shall I bow myself before God on high? Shall I present Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
- Matthew 5:7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
- Matthew 9:13Now go and learn what this means: ‘Mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.’ For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinful.”
- Matthew 12:7If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the innocent.
- Hosea 4:1Hear the word of Adonai, Bnei-Yisrael! For Adonai has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, no covenant loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land.
- 1 Chronicles 28:9“Now you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind; for Adonai searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
- Jeremiah 22:16He pled the case of the poor and weak, so it went well. Is not this knowledge of Me?” It is a declaration of Adonai.
Commentaries on Hosea 6:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6I desired mercy, and not sacrifice - I taught them righteousness by my prophets; for I desired mercy. I was more willing to save than to destroy; and would rather see them full of penitent and holy resolutions, than behold them offering the best and most numerous victims upon my altar. See Matthew 9:13.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6For I desired mercy and not sacrifice - God had said before, that they should “seek” Him “with their flocks and herds, and not find” Him. So here He anticipates their excuses with the same answer wherewith He met those of Saul, when he would compensate for disobedience by burnt-offerings. The answer is, that all which they did to win His favor, or turn aside His wrath, was of no avail, while they willfully withheld what He required of them. Their mercy…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-11Verses 4-11 Sometimes Israel and Judah seemed disposed to repent under their sufferings, but their goodness vanished like the empty morning cloud, and the early dew, and they were as vile as ever. Therefore the Lord sent awful messages by the prophets. The word of God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner. God desired mercy rather than sacrifice, and that knowledge of him which produces holy fear and love. This exposes the folly of those…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6In one of Hosea’s key verses, God highlights the most important qualities for the Israelites' covenant lives with him: The Lord wants his people to show love more than he wants sacrifices. Love (the Hebrew word khesed, meaning loyal love shown through steady faithfulness) includes being faithful in relationships (see Hosea 4:1; 6:4). God is always faithful (Psalm 136), and he expects the same from his people. The Lord wants Israel to know him more than he…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. mercy--put for piety in general, of which mercy or charity is a branch. not sacrifice--that is, "rather than sacrifice." So "not" is merely comparative (Ex 16:8; Joe 2:13; Joh 6:27; 1Ti 2:14). As God Himself instituted sacrifices, it cannot mean that He desired them not absolutely, but that even in the Old Testament, He valued moral obedience as the only end for which positive ordinances, such as sacrifices, were instituted--as of more importance than…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 6:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 6
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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