Hosea 14

A Plea to Return to the Lord

14ⁿReturn, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for ^oyou have stumbled because of your iniquity.

²Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept ^pwhat is good,

and we will pay with bulls

^qthe vows¹ of our lips.

^3rAssyria shall not save us;

^swe will not ride on horses;

and ^twe will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

^uIn you the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I ^vwill heal their apostasy;

^wI will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

^5xI will be like the dew to Israel;

^yhe shall blossom like the lily;

he shall take root like the trees ^zof Lebanon;

⁶his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be ^alike the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁷They shall return and ^bdwell beneath my² shadow;

they shall flourish like the grain;

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸O ^cEphraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.³

I am like an evergreen cypress;

^dfrom me comes your fruit.

^9eWhoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and ^fthe upright walk in them,

^fbut transgressors stumble in them.