< Hosea 14 >
1 “Turn back, O Israel, to your God YHWH, For you have stumbled by your iniquity.
2 Take words with you, and turn to YHWH, Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and give good, And we render the fruit of our lips.
3 Asshur does not save us, we do not ride on a horse, Nor do we say anymore, Our god, to the work of our hands, For in You the fatherless find mercy.
4 I heal their backsliding, I love them freely, For My anger has turned back from him.
5 I am as dew to Israel, he flourishes as a lily, And he strikes forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His shoots go on, And his splendor is as an olive, And he has fragrance as Lebanon.
7 The dwellers return under his shadow, They revive [as] grain, and flourish as a vine, His memorial [is] as wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I anymore to do with idols? I have answered, and I look after him: I [am] as a green fir-tree, Your fruit is found from Me.
9 Who [is] wise, and understands these? Prudent, and knows them? For upright are the ways of YHWH, And the righteous go on in them, And the transgressors stumble therein!”