Hosea 14
1 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, because your sins have brought you down.
Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your 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 words of repentance with you, and return to the Lord your God. Say to him: Wholly pardon our iniquity, accept that which is good, instead of sacrificing bulls, we offer our praise.
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.”
Assyria will not save us, nor Egyptian warhorses, and we will no more call the work of our hands our gods. For in you orphan Israel finds 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 apostasy, I will love them freely, now that 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 dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, he will plant his roots like the cedars 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 saplings will spread out, his beauty will be like that of the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of 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.
People will return and dwell in my shade, they will bring life to new grain. They shall sprout like the vine, and their renown will be like 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 – what have I to do with idols! It is I the Lord who respond to him and look after him. I am like an evergreen cypress, from me is your 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.
Whoever is wise, let him discern these things, prudent, let him perceive them; For the Lord’s ways are straight, and the righteous walk in them, but the wicked stumble in them.
