悔改带来祝福

14 以色列啊,
你被自己的罪恶绊倒了,
归向你的上帝耶和华吧!
你要归向耶和华,
向祂忏悔说:
“求你赦免我们的罪,
施恩悦纳我们,
好叫我们以赞美为祭献给你!
我们不再向亚述求救,
不再依靠战马,
也不再称自己所造的神像为我们的上帝。
耶和华啊,只有在你那里,
孤儿才能得到怜悯。”

耶和华说:
“我要医治他们的叛道,
心甘情愿地爱他们,
因为我的怒气已经转离他们。
我要像甘露一样滋润以色列,
使他绽放如百合花,
扎根如黎巴嫩的香柏树。
他要长出嫩枝,
他要像橄榄树一样荣美,
如黎巴嫩的香柏树一般芳香。
他要归回,住在我的荫下。
他要茂盛如五谷,
荣美如葡萄树,
声名远扬如黎巴嫩的美酒。

“以法莲啊,你要远离偶像。
我应允你的祷告,看顾你。
我像一棵青翠的松树,
你的果实都来自于我。”

让那些智者明白这一切,
让那些明哲了解这一切。
因为耶和华的道是正道,
义人要行走在上面,
罪人却在上面跌倒。

A Plea to Return to the Lord

14 (A)Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for (B)you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take with you words
    and return to the Lord;
say to him,
    “Take away all iniquity;
accept (C)what is good,
    and we will pay with bulls
    (D)the vows[a] of our lips.
(E)Assyria shall not save us;
    (F)we will not ride on horses;
and (G)we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
    to the work of our hands.
(H)In you the orphan finds mercy.”

I (I)will heal their apostasy;
    (J)I will love them freely,
    for my anger has turned from them.
(K)I will be like the dew to Israel;
    (L)he shall blossom like the lily;
    he shall take root like the trees (M)of Lebanon;
his shoots shall spread out;
    his beauty shall be (N)like the olive,
    and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and (O)dwell beneath my[b] shadow;
    they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
    their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

O (P)Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.[c]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    (Q)from me comes your fruit.

(R)Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
    and (S)the upright walk in them,
    (T)but transgressors stumble in them.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 14:2 Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit
  2. Hosea 14:7 Hebrew his
  3. Hosea 14:8 Hebrew him