Hosea 14
1 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, because your sins have brought you down.
Return, O Israel, even unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast stumbled through thy iniquity.
2 Take words like these with you and come back to the Lord, saying to him, “Please take away all our guilt, accept what is good, and we will repay you with praise from our lips.
Take with you swords, and return to the Lord: say unto him, “Pardon all [our] iniquity, and accept [our return to] good; and let us repay the steers [of sacrifice] with [the prayer of] our lips.
3 Assyria can't save us; we will not ride our warhorses; we will never again say ‘You are our gods’ to the idols we have made. For in you orphans find mercy.”
Asshur shall not help us; upon horses will we not ride: and we will no more say, Ye are our gods, to the work of our hands; for in thee alone the fatherless obtaineth mercy.”
4 I will heal their unfaithfulness; I will love them freely, for I'm not angry with them any more.
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel, they will blossom like lilies, they will send down roots like the cedars of Lebanon.
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall bloom as the lily; and he shall strike his roots as [the forests of] Lebanon.
6 They shall send out new shoots, their splendor will be like the olive tree, their scent will be like the cedars of Lebanon.
His suckers shall spread out, and his beauty shall be as that of the olive-tree, and his smell as that of the Lebanon.
7 Those who live under their shade shall return, they will flourish like grain, they will blossom like the vine, and they will be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.
They shall return that sat under his shade; they shall revive as corn, and bloom as the vine: the scent of which shall be as that of the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, how much more do I have to warn you about idols? I have answered and now I am watching. I am like a tree that is evergreen; your fruit is found in me.
Ephraim [shall say], What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will observe him; I will be [to him] like a green fir-tree; through me is thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise to understand these things? Who has discernment in understanding them? The Lord's paths are right—the good follow them, but rebels trip and fall along the way.
Who is wise, that he may understand these things? intelligent, that he may know them? for righteous are the ways of the Lord; and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors will stumble through them.
