Hosea 6:5

Hewed.. slain them] The prophets are here spoken of as themselves doing what their language threatened. Thy judgments.. forth] It is better to read with LXX, 'My judgment goeth forth as the light.' The reference is to the clear manifestation of the judgment.

6. God cared more for goodness and piety—the knowledge and doing of His will—than for formal offerings and sacrifice, and nothing at all for religious observances that were insincere and corrupt: cp. Isaiah 1:13; 1 Samuel 15:22. Our Lord twice quotes the first clause in justification of doing good on the sabbath day: cp. Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7.