[Image: Introduction to Hosea]
HOSEA 14
A Plea to Return to the LORD
[1] Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
[2] Take with you words
and return to the LORD;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.
[3] Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
[4] I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
[5] I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
[6] his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
[7] They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
[8] O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from me comes your fruit.
[9] Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them. (ESV)
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