Hosea 14

 

Hosea 14

1: Return Israel to the Lord your God; for your iniquity has been your downfall.

 

2: Come back to the Lord with your words of confession: say to Him, “You will surely take away my iniquity. Accept our wealth; we shall pay our vows with cattle from our pens.

 

3: Assyria will not save us, nor shall we rely on horses; what we have made with our own hands we shall never again call gods; for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

 

4: I shall heal my peoples apostasy; I shall love them freely, for my anger is turned away from them.

 

5: I shall be as dew to Israel that they may flower like the lily, strike root like the poplar,

 

6: and put out fresh shoots, that they may be as fair as the olive and fragrant as the Lebanon.

 

7: Israel will again dwell in my shadow; they will grow vigorously like grain, they will flourish like a vine, and be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.

 

8: What further dealings has Ephraim with idols? I declare it and affirm it: I am the pine tree that shelters you; your prosperity comes from me.

 

9: Let the wise consider these things and let the prudent acknowledge them: the Lord’s ways are straight and the righteous walk in them, while sinners stumble.