Footnotes

1. Hosea 14:2 No matter how somber this tableau appears to be, the threats cannot be the last word of humans to God since they are not the last words of God himself. Hosea wishes to prepare his people for conversion. Now he announces a kind of liturgy of repentance. God responds with a grand promise of grace. He desires the profound return of his people, ties of true and loyal love. He wants people to uproot sin, idolatry, and self-sufficiency; the last word will remain about salvation. After such sadness, what a moving promise!