Hosea 14

A Plea to Return to the Lord

1. Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, 1 for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

2. Take with you words 2 and return to the Lord; 2 say to him, 2 “Take away all iniquity; 2 accept what is good, 2 and we will pay with bulls 2 the vows[a] of our lips.

3. Assyria shall not save us; 3 we will not ride on horses; 3 and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ 3 to the work of our hands. 3 In you the orphan finds mercy.”

4. I will heal their apostasy; 4 I will love them freely, 4 for my anger has turned from them.

5. I will be like the dew to Israel; 5 he shall blossom like the lily; 5 he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;

6. his shoots shall spread out; 6 his beauty shall be like the olive, 6 and his fragrance like Lebanon.

7. They shall return and dwell beneath my[b] shadow; 7 they shall flourish like the grain; 7 they shall blossom like the vine; 7 their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? 8 It is I who answer and look after you.[c] 8 I am like an evergreen cypress; 8 from me comes your fruit.

9. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; 9 whoever is discerning, let him know them; 9 for the ways of the Lord are right, 9 and the upright walk in them, 9 but transgressors stumble in them.

Footnotes:
a. Hosea 14:2: Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit
b. Hosea 14:7: Hebrew his
c. Hosea 14:8: Hebrew him