Osee 14
1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; for the people have fallen through your iniquities.
Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, because your sins have brought you down.
2 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.
Take words like these with you and come back to the Lord, saying to him, “Please take away all our guilt, accept what is good, and we will repay you with praise from our lips.
3 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.
Assyria can't save us; we will not ride our warhorses; we will never again say ‘You are our gods’ to the idols we have made. For in you orphans find mercy.”
4 I will restore their dwellings, I will love them truly: for he has turned away my wrath from him.
I will heal their unfaithfulness; I will love them freely, for I'm not angry with them any more.
5 I will be as dew to Israel: he shall bloom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Libanus.
I will be like the dew to Israel, they will blossom like lilies, they will send down roots like the cedars of Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread, and he shall be as a fruitful olive, and his smell shall be as [the smell] of Libanus.
They shall send out new shoots, their splendor will be like the olive tree, their scent will be like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 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.
Those who live under their shade shall return, they will flourish like grain, they will blossom like the vine, and they will be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.
8 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.
Ephraim, how much more do I have to warn you about idols? I have answered and now I am watching. I am like a tree that is evergreen; your fruit is found in me.
9 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.
Who is wise to understand these things? Who has discernment in understanding them? The Lord's paths are right—the good follow them, but rebels trip and fall along the way.
