Bible Strands
Hosea 6:1
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Israel speaks to itself, a collective "we" calling its own members to return to Yahweh. The moment is one of acknowledged brokenness, not yet restored.
The words — טָרָף (ta.Raf, "torn to pieces") is the verb of a predator rending its prey; it names what God has done in terms that refuse to soften the violence.
The thread — Job 5:18 mirrors the wound-and-heal pairing; Deuteronomy 32:39 and 1 Samuel 2:6 ground it in divine sovereignty over life and death.
Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to hold that the same hand which tore is the one that heals, and that "come" is not an escape from the tearing but a step into what follows it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Cross-references
- Job 5:18 For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
- 1 Samuel 2:6 The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
- Hosea 14:4 I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.
- Job 34:29 But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,
- Isaiah 2:3 And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Jeremiah 30:17 But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”
- Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.