For my word study in the book of Hosea, I chose the word sacrifice, seen in Hosea 6:6.

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. This
verse is addressing the problem that many Israelites had, and one that we still have today. This
problem is seen when people abandon true goodness and a relationship with God, and instead do
their best to please God with their earthly works. As Christians today, we must hold firm in the
fact that God does not judge us by our works, but by our hearts.
The transliteration of this form of the Hebrew word for sacrifice is read as zebach in
English. The frequency for this word is 155 times throughout the Old Testament canon. To the
ancient Jewish people, sacrifice was seen much differently than it is seen today. Although still
employed for the same purpose of atoning for sins, sacrifice in the time of the Old Testament was
seen as a show of hierarchy as well as a visual measure of faith. People who could afford to
make larger sacrifices were seen as more esteemed, and higher up. (holier than thou!)
Therefore, what I think this verse is really trying to communicate is that God was (and still is)
desiring an intimate relationship with his people, rather than just a show of good works, used to
raise ourselves up.
The semantic range of meanings of sacrifice in the Old Testament canon is a bit
different than other words in the Bible. Rather than just meanings, the semantic range includes
different kinds of sacrifice, and why the sacrifice was made in the first place. (such as Passover,
sacrifices of righteousness, and the covenant sacrifice.) From these things we can conclude that
sacrifice was not just seen as atonement of sins, but rather a way for people besides the appointed
priests to form a bond with God before the cross.

The word sacrifice is highly used and seen quite frequently throughout the Old
Testament canon of The Bible. Besides Hosea 6:6, the word pops up over 150 times. Sacrifice
is mentioned in Exodus 10:25, when Moses is speaking to Pharaoh, You must allow us to have
sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God. And again in Leviticus 22:29,
When you sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be
accepted on your behalf. Third, in Psalm 4:5, Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in
the LORD.
With just these three examples, we see how the same word can be used in different
contexts to mean something similar, but quite different from the other definitions. The Israelites
were going through different circumstances in each of these verses, and each use of the word
sacrifice applied to them differently than the previous usage. It is absolutely amazing to me
how God can use language in such a way through the Bible that we find different meanings in
different contexts of the stories.