Hosea 14
1 Turn back, O Israel, unto Jehovah thy God, For thou hast stumbled by thine iniquity.
Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, because your sins have brought you down.
2 Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah, Say ye unto Him: 'Take away all iniquity, and give good, And we do render the fruit of our lips.
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.
3 Asshur doth not save us, on a horse we ride not, Nor do we say any more, Our God, to the work of our hands, For in Thee find mercy doth the fatherless.'
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.”
4 I heal their backsliding, I love them freely, For turned back hath Mine anger from him.
I will heal their unfaithfulness; I will love them freely, for I'm not angry with them any more.
5 I am as dew to Israel, he flourisheth as a lily, And he striketh forth his roots as Lebanon.
I will be like the dew to Israel, they will blossom like lilies, they will send down roots like the cedars of Lebanon.
6 Go on do his sucklings, And his beauty is as an olive, And he hath fragrance as Lebanon.
They shall send out new shoots, their splendor will be like the olive tree, their scent will be like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 Return do the dwellers under his shadow, They revive [as] corn, and flourish as a vine, His memorial [is] as wine of Lebanon.
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.
8 O Ephraim, what to Me any more with idols? I — I afflicted, and I cause him to sing: 'I [am] as a green fir-tree,' From Me is thy fruit found.
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.
9 Who [is] wise, and doth understand these? Prudent, and knoweth them? For upright are the ways of Jehovah, And the righteous go on in them, And the transgressors stumble therein!
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.
