Hosea 6 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 6:5, 6:9
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 6
Return, fleeting loyalty and the desire for mercy
Verse 6:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:1 “Come, let us return to YHWH, for He tore us and will heal us; He strikes and will bind us up.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:1 “Let us go and return to the Lord our God, because He has seized us and will heal us; He will strike and dress our wounds.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds our God to the divine title. Both place healing with the One who afflicted; Greek explicitly future striking is preserved.
Verse 6:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:2 He will revive us after two days; on the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:2 He will make us sound after two days; on the third day we will rise and live before Him.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew God raises us; Greek we rise. Reviving becomes making healthy. Both retain two days, the third day and life before God; neither source names Jesus within this verse. Rabbinic: Rashi associates the two days with the two destroyed sanctuaries and the third with a future third Temple [RASHI-HOS6]. Saints: Augustine reads the third day as Christ’s resurrection and the believers’ rising with Him [AUG-HOS]. These distinct readings are not inserted into the translation.
Verse 6:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:3 Let us know; let us pursue knowing YHWH. His going forth is established like dawn; He will come to us like rain, like spring rain watering the land.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:3 We will know; we will pursue knowing the Lord. We will find Him ready like dawn, and He will come to us like rain, early and late upon the land.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew His sure emergence becomes Greek our finding Him ready. Greek explicitly has both early and late rain; Hebrew yoreh is construed as watering after spring rain, while an early-rain reading is also possible.
Verse 6:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:4 “What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? Your steadfast love is like a morning cloud, like dew that goes away early.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:4 “What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like a morning cloud and like morning dew passing away.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both questions and both images of fleeting loyalty correspond.
Verse 6:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:5 Therefore I hewed through the prophets; I killed them with the sayings of My mouth, and your judgments go forth as light.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:5 Therefore I mowed down your prophets; I killed them with the words of My mouth, and My judgment will go forth like light.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew prophets are the means of hewing; Greek your prophets are its objects. Hebrew your judgments becomes Greek My judgment. The difficult Hebrew final address is retained rather than silently altered to the Greek pronoun. Rabbinic: Rashi construes the prophets instrumentally and takes the final verdict clause as a question about justice; the column retains a declarative punctuation while recording his alternative [RASHI-HOS6].
Verse 6:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, recognition of God rather than whole burnt offerings.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both prioritize covenant kindness or mercy and knowing God over ritual offerings. The explicit not and the comparative second clause are preserved. New Testament reception: Matthew 9:10–13 has Jesus cite the mercy-over-sacrifice clause in response to objections about His eating with tax collectors and sinners [NT-MAT9].
Verse 6:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:7 But they, like Adam, transgressed a covenant; there they dealt treacherously with Me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:7 But they are like a person transgressing a covenant; there he despised Me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew ʾadam is construed as Adam, with like humankind or a locality possible; Greek explicitly gives a person and then singular he. Greek despising replaces Hebrew treachery. The Adam identification remains provisional. Rabbinic: Rashi identifies Adam as the first human and compares Israel’s betrayal in a good land with Adam’s disobedience in Eden [RASHI-HOS6].
Verse 6:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:8 Gilead is a city working worthless things, stirring up water,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew blood-marked tracks become Greek disturbed water. The city and wrongdoing agree; no blood is imported into the Greek column.
Verse 6:9 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:9 As raiding bands lie in wait for a man, a company of priests murders on the road toward Shechem; indeed, they commit wickedness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:9 and your strength is that of a pirate. Priests concealed the Lord's road; they murdered Shechem, because they committed lawlessness.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek supplies the Lord's road and treats Shechem as the object of murder; Hebrew locates priestly murder on the road toward Shechem and compares an ambushing band. The difficult opening constructions differ and are retained as provisional smoothings.
Verse 6:10 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:10 In Israel's house I have seen a horrifying thing; there is Ephraim's prostitution; Israel is defiled.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:10 In Israel's house I saw dreadful things, there Ephraim's prostitution; Israel and Judah were defiled.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek includes Judah among the defiled here, using the Judah phrase that begins the following Hebrew verse. This is a cross-verse reassignment, not a net addition to the surrounding passage.
Verse 6:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
6:11 For you too, Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people's fortunes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
6:11 Begin harvesting for yourself when I turn back My people's captivity,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew announces Judah's appointed harvest; Greek commands an unnamed addressee to begin. Hebrew Judah appears in Greek verse ten. The final temporal clause also leads naturally toward the healing of Israel in the next chapter; the supplied chapter boundary does not settle its attachment.