Hosea 14

New International Version

• 1. Return, O 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 war-horses. 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 splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
• 7. Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.
• 8. O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me."
• 9. Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

New International Version