Hosea 14
The Message
Come Back! Return to Your God!
14 1-3 O Israel, come back! Return to your God!
You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession
and come back to God.
Pray to him, “Take away our sin,
accept our confession.
Receive as restitution
our repentant prayers.
Assyria won’t save us;
horses won’t get us where we want to go.
We’ll never again say ‘our god’
to something we’ve made or made up.
You’re our last hope. Is it not true
that in you the orphan finds mercy?”
* * *
4-8 “I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He’ll put down deep oak tree roots,
he’ll become a forest of oaks!
He’ll become splendid—like a giant sequoia,
his fragrance like a grove of cedars!
Those who live near him will be blessed by him,
be blessed and prosper like golden grain.
Everyone will be talking about them,
spreading their fame as the vintage children of God.
Ephraim is finished with gods that are no-gods.
From now on I’m the one who answers and satisfies him.
I am like a luxuriant fruit tree.
Everything you need is to be found in me.”
* * *
9 If you want to live well,
make sure you understand all of this.
If you know what’s good for you,
you’ll learn this inside and out.
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
Right-living people walk them easily;
wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.
Hosea 14
New International Version
Repentance to Bring Blessing
14 [a]Return,(A) Israel, to the Lord your God.
Your sins(B) have been your downfall!(C)
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
“Forgive(D) all our sins
and receive us graciously,(E)
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[b](F)
3 Assyria cannot save us;(G)
we will not mount warhorses.(H)
We will never again say ‘Our gods’(I)
to what our own hands have made,(J)
for in you the fatherless(K) find compassion.”
4 “I will heal(L) their waywardness(M)
and love them freely,(N)
for my anger has turned away(O) from them.
5 I will be like the dew(P) to Israel;
he will blossom like a lily.(Q)
Like a cedar of Lebanon(R)
he will send down his roots;(S)
6 his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,(T)
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.(U)
7 People will dwell again in his shade;(V)
they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom(W) like the vine—
Israel’s fame will be like the wine(X) of Lebanon.(Y)
8 Ephraim, what more have I[c] to do with idols?(Z)
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;(AA)
your fruitfulness comes from me.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 14:1 In Hebrew texts 14:1-9 is numbered 14:2-10.
- Hosea 14:2 Or offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls
- Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.