Hosea 14 / 14
- 1
(A Plea to Return to the Lord)
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
- 2
Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
"Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.
- 3
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, 'Our God,'
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy."
- 4
I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
- 5
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
- 6
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
- 7
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
- 8
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from me comes your fruit.
- 9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.