Osee 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.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quid faciam tibi, Ephraim ? quid faciam tibi, Juda ? misericordia vestra quasi nubes matutina, et quasi ros mane pertransiens.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Τί σοι ποιήσω, Ἐφράιμ; τί σοι ποιήσω, Ἰούδα; τὸ δὲ ἔλεος ὑμῶν ὡς νεφέλη πρωινὴ καὶ ὡς δρόσος ὀρθρινὴ πορευομένη.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- מָ֤ה אֶֽעֱשֶׂה לְּךָ֙ אֶפְרַ֔יִם מָ֥ה אֶעֱשֶׂה לְּךָ֖ יְהוּדָ֑ה וְחַסְדְּכֶם֙ כַּֽעֲנַן בֹּ֔קֶר וְכַטַּ֖ל מַשְׁכִּ֥ים הֹלֵֽךְ
Haydock's commentary
Mercy. Hebrew chesed, (Haydock) "piety," &c., (Grotius) whence the word Assideans is derived, 1 Machabees ii. 42. The captives flattered themselves, that as soon as they began to entertain sentiments of repentance, God would relieve them. But he answers that their virtue is inconstant, and that they must suffer in proportion to their crimes.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Gregory Nazianzen Miscellaneous Letters, Letter LXXVII
O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee, saith God. What anger is here expressed, and yet protection is added. What is swifter than Mercy? The Disciples ask for flames of Sodom upon those who drive Jesus away, but He deprecates revenge. Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, one of those who outraged Him, but Jesus restores it. And what of him who asks whether he must seven times forgive a brother if he has trespassed, is he not condemned for his niggardliness, for to the seven is added seventy times seven? What of the debtor in the Gospel who will not forgive as he has been forgiven? Is it not more bitterly exacted of him for this? And what saith the pattern of prayer? Does it not desire that forgiveness may be earned by forgiveness?
St Ambrose Concerning Repentance, Chapter V. The objection from the unchangeableness of God is answered from several passages of Scripture, wherein God promises forgiveness to sinners on their repentance. St. Ambrose also shows that mercy will be more readily accorded to such as have sinned, as it were, against their will, which he illustrates by the case of prisoners taken in war, and by language put into the mouth of the devil
21. But they say that they make these assertions in order not to seem to make God liable to change, as He would be if He forgave those with whom He was angry. What then? Shall we reject the utterances of God and follow their opinions? But God is not to be judged by the statements of others, but by His own words. What mark of His mercy have we more ready at hand than that He Himself, through the prophet Hosea, is at once merciful as though reconciled to those whom in His anger He had threatened? For He says: “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee, or what shall I do unto thee, O Judah? Your kindness,” etc. …