| 1 | O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled
and
fallen, [visited by calamity] due to your iniquity. |
| 2 | Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say to Him, Take away all
our
iniquity; accept what is good
and
receive us graciously; so will we render [our thanks] as bullocks [to be sacrificed]
and
pay the confession of our lips. |
| 3 | Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands [idols], You are our gods. For in You [O Lord] the fatherless find love, pity,
and
mercy. |
| 4 | I will heal their faithlessness; I will love them freely, for My anger is turned away from [Israel]. |
| 5 | I will be like the dew
and
the night mist to Israel; he shall grow
and
blossom like the lily and cast forth his roots like [the sturdy evergreens of] Lebanon. |
| 6 | His suckers
and
shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like [the cedars and aromatic shrubs of] Lebanon. |
| 7 | They that dwell under his shade shall return; they shall revive like the grain and blossom like the vine; the scent of it shall be like the wine of Lebanon. |
| 8 | Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered [him] and will regard
and
watch over him; I am like a green fir
or
cypress tree; with Me is the fruit found [which is to nourish you]. |
| 9 | Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the Lord are right and the [uncompromisingly] just shall walk in them, but transgressors shall stumble
and
fall in them. |
Cross references:
-
Hosea 14:2 : Heb. 13:15.
-
Hosea 14:9 : Ps. 107:43; Isa. 26:7; Jer. 9:12; Dan. 12:10.
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