Hosea 6:9

Verse 9 of 11. The 6th of 14 chapters in Hosea, in The Minor Prophets.

5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

Read Hosea 6

Hosea 6:9 in the World English Bible

As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.
Read Hosea 6:9 in the WEB

Matthew Henry on Hosea 6:9

See how the best institutions, that are ever so well designed to keep the balance even between justice and mercy, are capable of being abused and perverted to the manifest prejudice and violation of both. [2.] Look among those whose business it was to minister in holy things, and they were as bad as the worst and as vile as the vilest (v. 9): The company of priests are so, not here and there one that is the scandal of…

Read Matthew Henry on Hosea 6:4–11: Promises and Expostulations; The Crimes of the People. (b. c. 758.)

Pray Hosea 6:9 with someone reading it aloud.

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King James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.