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.