Hosea 14

English Standard Version

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.
²Take 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.
³^(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.”

⁴I ^(I)will heal their apostasy;
    ^(J)I will love them freely,
    for my anger has turned from them.
⁵^(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;
⁶his shoots shall spread out;
    his beauty shall be ^(N)like the olive,
    and his fragrance like Lebanon.
⁷They 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.

⁸O ^(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.

⁹^(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

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

Psalm 139

English Standard Version

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you have ^(A)searched me and known me!
²You ^(B)know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you ^(C)discern my thoughts from afar.
³You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, ^(D)you know it altogether.
⁵You ^(E)hem me in, behind and before,
    and ^(F)lay your hand upon me.
⁶^(G)Such knowledge is ^(H)too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷^(I)Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where ^(J)shall I flee from your presence?
⁸^(K)If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    ^(L)If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall ^(M)lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹If I say, ^(N)“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹²^(O)even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

¹³For you ^(P)formed my inward parts;
    you ^(Q)knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
^(R)Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵^(S)My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in ^(T)the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your ^(U)book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your ^(V)thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸^(W)If I would count them, they are more than ^(X)the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹Oh that you would ^(Y)slay the wicked, O God!
    O ^(Z)men of blood, ^(AA)depart from me!
²⁰They ^(AB)speak against you with malicious intent;
    your enemies ^(AC)take your name in vain.^[b]
²¹^(AD)Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not ^(AE)loathe those who ^(AF)rise up against you?
²²I hate them with complete hatred;
    I count them my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart!
^(AG)Try me and know my thoughts!^[c]
²⁴And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and ^(AH)lead me in ^(AI)the way everlasting!^[d]