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

14 (2) O Yisroel, return unto Hashem Eloheicha; for thy downfall hast been thine avon (iniquity).

(3) Take devarim (words) with you, and turn to Hashem; say unto Him, Take away avon (iniquity), and receive us graciously that we may render the sacrifices of our lips.[MJ 13:15]

(4) Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon susim; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are Eloheinu; for in Thee the yatom (orphan) findeth compassion.

(5) I will heal their meshuvah (backsliding); I will love them freely; for Mine anger is turned away from him.

(6) I will be as the tal (dew) unto Yisroel: he shall blossom as the lily, and strike root as Levanon.

(7) His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the zayit (olive tree), and his hod (splendor) as Levanon.

(8) They that dwell under his tzel (shade) shall return; they shall revive as the dagan, and grow as the gefen; the remembrance thereof shall be as the yayin of Levanon.

(9) Ephrayim shall say, What have I to do any more with atzabim? It is I who answer and look after him; I am like an evergreen cypress. From Me is thy p’ri found.

(10) Who is chacham, and he shall have binah of these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the Darkhei Hashem are right, and the tzaddikim shall walk in them; but the poshe’im (transgressors) shall fall therein.