Hosea 14

1 Return, O Israel, even unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast stumbled through thy iniquity.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; for the people have fallen through your iniquities.

2 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.

Take with you words, and turn to the Lord your God: speak to him, that you may not receive [the reward of] unrighteousness, but that you may receive good things: and we will render in return the fruit of our lips.

3 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.”

Assur shall never save us; we will not mount on horseback; we will no longer say to the works of our hands, Our gods. He who is in you shall pity the orphan.

4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from them.

I will restore their dwellings, I will love them truly: for he has turned away my wrath from him.

5 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.

I will be as dew to Israel: he shall bloom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Libanus.

6 His suckers shall spread out, and his beauty shall be as that of the olive-tree, and his smell as that of the Lebanon.

His branches shall spread, and he shall be as a fruitful olive, and his smell shall be as [the smell] of Libanus.

7 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.

They shall return, and dwell under his shadow: they shall live and be satisfied with corn, and he shall flower as a vine: his memorial shall be to Ephraim as the wine of Libanus.

8 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.

What [has] he to do any more with idols? I have afflicted him, and I will strengthen him: I am as a leafy juniper tree. From me is your fruit found.

9 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.

Who is wise, and will understand these things? or prudent, and will know them? for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them: but the ungodly shall fall therein.