Hosea 6:6 (WEB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Hosea 6:4 “Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.

Hosea 6:5 Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

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

Hosea 6:7 But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.

Hosea 6:8 Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mercy", "desire", "sacrifice", "knowledge", "than", "burnt", and "offerings". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mercy" and "desire", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "Therefore I have cut them to pieces..." into verse 7's "But they like Adam have broken the...", so "mercy" and "desire" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mercy" and "desire" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.