m with their
portions.

Children that are strangers... That is, aliens from God: and therefore
they are threatened with speedy destruction.

5:8. Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in
Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin.

5:9. Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the
tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be.

5:10. The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I
will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

As they that take up the bound... That is, they that remove the
boundary, encroaching on the property of their neighbors: figuratively:
going beyond the boundary of the laws of God.

5:11. Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he
began to go after filthiness.

5:12. And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the
house of Juda.

5:13. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went
to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able
to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you.

5:14. For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp
to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and
there is none that can rescue.

5:15. I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek
my face.

Osee Chapter 6

Affliction shall be a means to bring many to Christ, a complaint of the
untowardness of the Jews. God loves mercy more than sacrifice.

6:1. In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us
return to the Lord.

6:2. For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he
will cure us.

6:3. He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us
up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow
on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the
morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain
to the earth.

6:4. What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O
Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away
in the morning.

6:5. For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain
them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the
light.

6:6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God
more than holocausts.

6:7. But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have
they dealt