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A Plea to Return to the Lord

 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^[a] 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^[b] 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.^[c]
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.

Footnotes:

1. Hosea 14:2 Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit
2. Hosea 14:7 Hebrew his
3. Hosea 14:8 Hebrew him

Cross references:

1. Hosea 14:1 : ch. 6:1; 12:6; [ch. 3:5]
2. Hosea 14:1 : [ch. 13:9]
3. Hosea 14:2 : [ch. 5:15]
4. Hosea 14:2 : Heb. 13:15; [Ps. 50:13, 14; 69:30, 31]
5. Hosea 14:3 : ch. 5:13
6. Hosea 14:3 : [Isa. 30:16; 31:1]
7. Hosea 14:3 : [ver. 8]
8. Hosea 14:3 : See Ps. 10:14
9. Hosea 14:4 : Jer. 3:22; [ch. 6:1]
10. Hosea 14:4 : [ch. 11:1]
11. Hosea 14:5 : [ch. 6:3]
12. Hosea 14:5 : Isa. 27:6
13. Hosea 14:5 : [Ps. 92:12; Isa. 35:2]
14. Hosea 14:6 : Ps. 52:8
15. Hosea 14:7 : Ps. 91:1
16. Hosea 14:8 : [ver. 3; Isa. 30:22]
17. Hosea 14:8 : [ch. 2:8, 23; John 15:4, 5]
18. Hosea 14:9 : Ps. 107:43; Jer. 9:12; Dan. 12:10; John 8:47; 18:37
19. Hosea 14:9 : [Prov. 10:29; Luke 2:34; 2 Cor. 2:16]
20. Hosea 14:9 : [Prov. 10:29; Luke 2:34; 2 Cor. 2:16]