Hosea 14

 

Hosea 14

1 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!

² Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.

³ Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

⁴ “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;

⁶ his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

⁷ People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine—Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me.”

⁹ Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.