Hosea 6:6

6:6 For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice;

I delight ¹  in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. ² 

Hosea 8:12

8:12 I spelled out my law for him in great detail,

but they regard it as something totally unknown ³  to them!

[6:6]  ¹ tn The phrase “I delight” does not appear in the Hebrew text a second time in this verse, but is implied from the parallelism in the preceding line.

[6:6]  ² sn Contrary to popular misunderstanding, Hosea does not reject animal sacrifice nor cultic ritual, and advocate instead obedience only. Rather, God does not delight in ritual sacrifice without the accompanying prerequisite moral obedience (1 Sam 15:22; Pss 40:6-8; 51:16-17; Prov 21:3; Isa 1:11-17; Jer 7:21-23; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8). However, if prerequisite moral obedience is present, he delights in sacrificial worship as an outward expression (Ps 51:19). Presented by a repentant obedient worshiper, whole burnt offerings were “an aroma pleasing” to the Lord (Lev 1:9, 13).

[8:12]  ³ tn Heb “foreign” or “alien”; NASB, NRSV “as a strange thing.”