Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

HOSEA 6:3KJV
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Hosea 6:3 (KJV)

What does Hosea 6:3 mean?

Hosea 6:3 calls Israel to pursue knowing the LORD and describes his coming to restore them as certain as dawn and refreshing as rain. The verse belongs to a communal call to return to the God who has wounded Israel but can also heal them.

The key is “follow on” — רָדַף (radaf), which means “pursue” or “chase.” The Hebrew expresses a shared resolve: “Let us know; let us pursue knowing the LORD.” The KJV’s “if we follow on” conveys the connection between pursuit and knowing, but the Hebrew more directly voices an urgent call for the people to act together.

The Hebrew behind Hosea 6:3

  • “know” — יָדַע (yada): This word appears twice and means “know,” including knowing someone through relationship and experience. Here the object is “the LORD” — יהוה (YHWH), Israel’s God, identified by his personal name. In the surrounding passage, Israel’s failure to know God involves their conduct toward him, not simply a shortage of information.

  • “forth” — מוֹצָא (motsa); “prepared” — כּוּן (kun); “morning” — שַׁחַר (shachar): “His going forth” means his coming out or appearing. The form translated “prepared” means established or certain, and “morning” specifically means dawn. Together, the words picture God’s appearing as firmly established as daybreak.

  • “come” — בּוֹא (bo); “rain” — גֶּשֶׁם (geshem): These mean “come” and “rain.” “He shall come unto us as the rain” pictures God’s arrival through rain’s effect on dry ground: his coming brings the restoration anticipated in the preceding verses.

  • “latter” — מַלְקוֹשׁ (malqosh); “rain” in “former rain” — יָרָה (yarah): The latter rain is the spring rain that helps crops mature. The form associated with yarah names the early seasonal rain, which moistens the ground after the dry summer. The Hebrew connects the rain directly with watering “the earth” — אֶרֶץ (erets), meaning the land or ground here.

Why Hosea 6:3 matters

  • The weather images describe both certainty and restoration. Dawn emphasizes the dependability of God’s appearing; seasonal rain emphasizes what his coming supplies to a land dependent on rainfall.

  • The surrounding passage tests Israel’s resolve. Immediately afterward, God compares Israel’s goodness to a morning cloud and dew that quickly disappear (Hosea 6:4). The contrast is sharp: God’s coming is pictured as dependable, while Israel’s loyalty proves fleeting.

Where else these words appear

“latter” Hebrew H4456 · used in 8 verses

  • Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
  • Proverbs 16:15 In the light of the king's countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.
  • Jeremiah 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

“morning” Hebrew H7837 · used in 24 verses

  • Genesis 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
  • Job 3:9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
  • Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

“forth” Hebrew H4161 · used in 26 verses

  • Numbers 30:12 But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.
  • 2 Chronicles 32:30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
  • Psalms 107:35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.

“rain” Hebrew H1653 · used in 33 verses

  • Genesis 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
  • Ezra 10:13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
  • Jeremiah 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.