Hosea 14

A Plea to Repent

1Israel, return to the Lord your God,#Hs 6:1; 10:12; 12:6

for you have stumbled in your iniquity.#Hs 4:8; 5:5; 9:7

2Take words of repentance with you#Mc 7:18–19

and return to the Lord.

Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity

and accept what is good,

so that we may repay you

with praise#14:2 LXX reads with the fruit from our#14:2 Lit repay the bulls of our lips.#Heb 13:15

3Assyria will not save us,#Hs 5:13

we will not ride on horses,#Is 31:1

and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods! ’ #Hs 4:12

to the work of our hands.#Hs 8:6; 13:2

For the fatherless receives compassion in you.”#Ps 68:5

A Promise of Restoration

4I will heal their apostasy;#Is 57:18; Hs 6:1

I will freely love them,#Zph 3:17

for my anger will have turned from him.#Is 12:1

5I will be like the dew to Israel;#Is 26:19

he will blossom like the lily#Sg 2:1; Mt 6:28

and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.#Is 35:2

6His new branches will spread,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,#Jr 11:16

his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.#Sg 4:11

7The people will return and live beneath his shade.#Ezk 17:23

They will grow grain#Hs 2:21–22

and blossom like the vine.

His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8Ephraim, why should I#14:8 LXX reads he have anything more

to do with idols?#Jb 34:32

It is I who answer and watch over him.

I am like a flourishing pine tree;#Is 41:19

your fruit comes from me.#Ezk 17:13

9Let whoever is wise#Ps 107:43; Jr 9:12 understand these things,

and whoever is insightful recognize them.

For the ways of the Lord are right,#Ps 111:7–8; Zph 3:5

and the righteous walk in them,#Is 26:7

but the rebellious stumble in them.#Is 1:28