"Come, and let us return to Yahweh; For he has torn us to pieces, And he will heal us; He has injured us, And he will bind up our wounds.
It is not possible to say exactly whether these first three verses are Hosea's prediction of what the people would say, an ironic reference to what they are actually saying, or just why they appear in this context; and, for that reason, some have been quick to protest that Hosea did not place them here, but that they appear as the result of some later editor's placement of them.  This of course, must be rejected, because the words clearly belong exactly where they are.  Even the figure of the lion tearing his prey is continued from  Hosea 5:14; and the balance of the chapter  (Hosea 6:4-11) has the specific function of being a rejection of the first three verses as being in any sense an adequate response from Israel sufficient to avert their punishment.