Hosea 14
A Call to Repentance (Jeremiah 3:11–25 ; Zechariah 1:1–6)
1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
2 Bring your confessions
and return to the LORD.
2 Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity
and receive us graciously,
2 that we may present
the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria will not save us,
nor will we ride on horses.
3 We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’
to the work of our own hands.
3 For in You the fatherless find compassion.”
A Promise of God’s Blessing
4 I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
4 for My anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
5 and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
6 His shoots will sprout,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,
6 his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 They will return and dwell in his shade;
they will grow grain and blossom like the vine.
7 His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do
anymore with idols?
8 It is I who answer and watch over him.
I am like a flourishing cypress;
8 your fruit comes from Me.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them.
9 For the ways of the LORD are right,
and the righteous walk in them
9 but the rebellious stumble in them.