Hosea 6:4

The answer of Jehovah, who cannot be satisfied with such a superficial repentance and such hasty resolutions of -knowing" Him.

what shall I do unto thee? -What other means can possibly be employed to move thee to a serious repentance?" Comp. Isaiah 5:4.

your goodness Rather, your piety. The word (khésedh) is the same as that rendered in Hosea 6:6 -mercy"; and so St Jerome here (-the mercy which I had been wont to shew"), and Keil (explaining, as in Hosea 4:1, -your kindness to those in need"). But the context requires another sense -your love to God", and this is what A.V. means, though it expresses it weakly. The Peshito also renders -goodness", and again in Hosea 6:6.

as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away Rather, … and as the night mist which early goeth away (so again Hosea 13:3). The -cloud" spoken of, then, is a cloud such as Isaiah speaks of as coming -in the heat of harvest" (Isaiah 18:4); more precisely, it is one of those dense masses of night-vapour, which the westerly winds of summer bear from the Mediterranean Sea, and which more than supply the place of dew. After -making a fair show" in the bright morning light, they are soon sucked up by the hot sun, and pass away (Neil, Palestine Explored, p. 138). The cognate word in Arabic means a soft rain (comp. Deuteronomy 32:2). Comp. on Hosea 14:6.