Hosea 5:15
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Study Note
Study Note
God's declaration 'I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early' presents divine withdrawal as disciplinary rather than abandonment. The theology of 'returning to my place' (the divine heaven) is unusual in the prophets and implies that God's active presence in Israel's midst was contingent on the covenantal relationship — its withdrawal is the consequence of chronic covenant violation. The conditional 'in their affliction they will seek me early' anticipates the pattern of the Judges cycle (suffering → crying out → divine rescue) as the mechanism by which divine discipline achieves its purpose. Luke 15:17-18 ('he came to himself... I will arise and go to my father') may echo Hosea 5:15-6:1's return-to-God pattern as the narrative structure of repentance.
Other Translations
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.
I go--I turn back unto My place, Till that they are desolate, and have sought My face. In their distress they do seek Me speedily!'
I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.
Cross References
Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all …
Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for …
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the …
Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee …
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember …
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed …
And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will …
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the …