What Does Hosea 6:6 Mean in the King James?
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, knowing God becomes visible as faithful love, while sacrifice cannot take its place.
THE MEANING
God desires faithful love from you and your knowing of God more than sacrifice or burnt offerings. The verse places relational recognition and steadfast care at the center of what is true before God now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that religious acts can make up for withheld faithful love or purchase closeness to God.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
ḥesed
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ד
ḥ-s-d
To show loyal kindness; faithful, relational devotion.
“mercy” in this verse is ḥesed. The Hebrew חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love) names durable relational loyalty, not a passing feeling. Its word family links that quality to חָסַד (ḥāsad, to show kindness) and חָסִיד (ḥāsîd, a faithful or devoted person), making care a way of being toward another.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsad: To show kindness or loyal care.
חָסַד
The verb gives faithful love an active shape: it is care expressed toward another.
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The related word describes someone marked by the quality God desires.
דַּעַת
daʿat
GROWS FROM
י־ד־ע
y-d-ʿ
To know, recognize, or become acquainted through encounter.
The Hebrew דַּעַת (daʿat, knowledge) comes from יָדַע (yada, to know or recognize through encounter). Paired with faithful love, knowing God is presented as relational recognition, not merely religious information.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know or recognize through encounter.
יָדַע
This is the verb behind Hosea’s word for knowledge, bringing knowing into lived relationship.
hôdîaʿ: To make known or declare.
הוֹדִיעַ
The same root can describe what is made known, linking knowledge with recognition brought into the open.
THE PATTERN
Lived faithfulness and responsiveness express devotion more deeply than ritual acts alone.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.THE THREAD
But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.Matthew 12:7 shows the consequence built into Hosea’s words: failing to understand mercy leads to condemning the guiltless. Knowing God’s character shapes what a person can recognize in others.
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