Hosea 14 | New International Version

Repentance to bring blessing

1 * Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!

2 Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.*

3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say “Our gods” to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.’

4 ‘I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.

5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;

6 his young shoots will grow. His splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

7 People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the corn, they will blossom like the vine – Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim, what more have I* to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me.’

9 Who is wise? Let them realise these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

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English Standard Version

A Plea to Return to the Lord

1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

2 Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows* of our lips.

3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”

4 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.

5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;

6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.

7 They shall return and dwell beneath my* shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you.* I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.

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

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