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 (13:16) Shomron will bear her guilt,
for she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword,
their little ones will be dashed to pieces
and their pregnant women ripped open.
(1) Return, Isra’el, to Adonai your God,
for your guilt has made you stumble.
(2) Take words with you, and return to Adonai;
say to him, “Forgive all guilt,
and accept what is good;
we will pay instead of bulls
[the offerings of] our lips.
(3) Ashur will not save us,
we will not ride on horses,
and we will no longer call
what we made with our hands our gods.
For it is only in you
that the fatherless can find mercy.”

(4) “I will heal their disloyalty,
I will love them freely;
for my anger has turned from him.
(5) I will be like dew to Isra’el;
he will blossom like a lily
and strike roots like the L’vanon.
(6) His branches will spread out,
his beauty be like an olive tree
and his fragrance like the L’vanon.
(7) Again they will live in his shade and raise grain;
they will blossom like a vine,
and its aroma will be
like the wine of the L’vanon.
(8) Efrayim [will say], ‘What have I
to do any more with idols?’
And I, I answer and affirm him;
I am like a fresh, green cypress tree;
your fruitfulness comes from me.”
10 (9) Let the wise understand these things,
and let the discerning know them.
For the ways of Adonai are straight,
And the righteous walk in them,
but in them sinners stumble.