Hosea 14

A Plea to Return to the Lord

1 ch. 6:1;12:6;[ch. 3:5] Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for [ch. 13:9]you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

2 Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

"Take away all iniquity;

accept [ch. 5:15] what is good,

and we will pay with bulls

Heb. 13:15;[Ps. 50:13,14;69:30,31]the vows14:2 Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit of our lips.

3 ch. 5:13Assyria shall not save us;

[Isa. 30:16;31:1] we will not ride on horses;

and [ver. 8] we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

See Ps. 10:14In you the orphan finds mercy."

4 I Jer. 3:22;[ch. 6:1] will heal their apostasy;

[ch. 11:1]I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

5 [ch. 6:3] I will be like the dew to Israel;

Isa. 27:6he shall blossom like the lily;

he shall take root like the trees [Ps. 92:12;Isa. 35:2]of Lebanon;

6 his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be Ps. 52:8like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

7 They shall return and Ps. 91:1dwell beneath my14:7 Hebrew his shadow;

they shall flourish like the grain;

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 O [ver. 3; Isa. 30:22] Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.14:8 Hebrew him

I am like an evergreen cypress;

[ch. 2:8,23;John 15:4,5]from me comes your fruit.

9 Ps. 107:43;Jer. 9:12;Dan. 12:10;John 8:47;18:37Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and [Prov. 10:29;Luke 2:34;2 Cor. 2:16]the upright walk in them,

[Prov. 10:29;Luke 2:34;2 Cor. 2:16]but transgressors stumble in them.