Hosea 14
Modern English Version
A Plea for Repentance
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity,
and accept that which is good;
and we will offer the fruit[a] of our lips!
3 Assyria will not save us,
we will not ride on horses.
We will no longer say, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In You the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their backsliding;
I will love them freely,
for My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall grow like the lily
and shall strike his roots
like Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread out,
and his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7 Those that dwell under his shadow will return,
they will flourish like the grain
and grow as a vine.
Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after him.
I am like a green fir tree;
your fruit is found in Me.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever prudent, let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the just will walk in them;
but the transgressors stumble in them.
Footnotes
- Hosea 14:2 Gk. Syr.; Heb. bulls.
Hosea 14
Authorized (King James) Version
14 O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God;
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the Lord:
say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously:
so will we render the calves of our lips.
3 Asshur shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses:
neither will we say any more to the work of our hands,
Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
4 I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely:
for mine anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel:
he shall grow as the lily,
and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread,
and his beauty shall be as the olive tree,
and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return;
they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine:
the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?
I have heard him, and observed him:
I am like a green fir tree.
From me is thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
prudent, and he shall know them?
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and the just shall walk in them:
but the transgressors shall fall therein.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.