Hosea 14
1 Israel, convert to the Lord your God. For you have been ruined by your own iniquity.
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; for the people have fallen through your iniquities.
2 Take these words with you and return to the Lord. And say to him, “Remove all iniquity and accept the good. And we will repay the calves of our lips.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord your God: speak to him, that you may not receive [the reward of] unrighteousness, but that you may receive good things: and we will render in return the fruit of our lips.
3 Assur will not save us; we will not ride on horses. Neither will we say any more, ‘The works of our hands are our gods,’ for those that are in you will have mercy on the orphan.”
Assur shall never save us; we will not mount on horseback; we will no longer say to the works of our hands, Our gods. He who is in you shall pity the orphan.
4 I will heal their contrition; I will love them spontaneously. For my wrath has been turned away from them.
I will restore their dwellings, I will love them truly: for he has turned away my wrath from him.
5 I will be like the dew; Israel will spring forth like the lily, and his root will spread out like that of the cedars of Lebanon.
I will be as dew to Israel: he shall bloom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Libanus.
6 His branches will advance, and his glory will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance will be like that of the cedars of Lebanon.
His branches shall spread, and he shall be as a fruitful olive, and his smell shall be as [the smell] of Libanus.
7 They will be converted, sitting in his shadow. They will live on wheat, and they will grow like a vine. His memorial will be like the wine of the cedars of Lebanon.
They shall return, and dwell under his shadow: they shall live and be satisfied with corn, and he shall flower as a vine: his memorial shall be to Ephraim as the wine of Libanus.
8 Ephraim will say, “What are idols to me anymore?” I will listen to him, and I will set him straight like a healthy spruce tree. Your fruit has been found by me.
What [has] he to do any more with idols? I have afflicted him, and I will strengthen him: I am as a leafy juniper tree. From me is your fruit found.
9 Who is wise and will understand this? Who has understanding and will know these things? For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the just will walk in them, but truly, the traitors will fall in them.
Who is wise, and will understand these things? or prudent, and will know them? for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them: but the ungodly shall fall therein.
