Hosea 14
1 Return, O Israel, even unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast stumbled through thy iniquity.
Return, O Israel, to Jehovah thy God; For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
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 return to Jehovah, saying, “Forgive all our iniquity, and receive us graciously, And we will render to thee the sacrifices 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.”
Assyria shall not help us; We will not ride on horses; And no more will we say to the work of our hands, Ye are our Gods! For from thee the fatherless obtaineth mercy.”
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from them.
“I will heal their rebellion; I will love them freely; For my anger is turned away from them.
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 the dew to Israel; He shall blossom as the lily, And strike his roots like Lebanon.
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 sprouts shall spread forth, And his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, And his fragrance as Lebanon.
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 that dwell under his shadow Shall revive as the corn; They shall shoot forth as the vine; Their name shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
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.
Ephraim shall say, What have I more to do with idols? I will hear him; I will care for him; I will be like a green cypress-tree; From me shall thy fruit be 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, that he may understand these things, Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, And the righteous walk in them; But in them transgressors stumble.
