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(1) Return, Isra’el, to Adonai your God,
for your guilt has made you stumble.
(2) Take words with you, and return to Adonai;
say to him, “Forgive all guilt,
and accept what is good;
we will pay instead of bulls
[the offerings of] our lips.
(3) Ashur will not save us,
we will not ride on horses,
and we will no longer call
what we made with our hands our gods.
For it is only in you
that the fatherless can find mercy.”

(4) “I will heal their disloyalty,
I will love them freely;
for my anger has turned from him.
(5) I will be like dew to Isra’el;
he will blossom like a lily
and strike roots like the L’vanon.
(6) His branches will spread out,
his beauty be like an olive tree
and his fragrance like the L’vanon.
(7) Again they will live in his shade and raise grain;
they will blossom like a vine,
and its aroma will be
like the wine of the L’vanon.
(8) Efrayim [will say], ‘What have I
to do any more with idols?’
And I, I answer and affirm him;
I am like a fresh, green cypress tree;
your fruitfulness comes from me.”
10 (9) Let the wise understand these things,
and let the discerning know them.
For the ways of Adonai are straight,
And the righteous walk in them,
but in them sinners stumble.

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Take words with you
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
    “Forgive(A) all our sins
and receive us graciously,(B)
    that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[a](C)
Assyria cannot save us;(D)
    we will not mount warhorses.(E)
We will never again say ‘Our gods’(F)
    to what our own hands have made,(G)
    for in you the fatherless(H) find compassion.”

“I will heal(I) their waywardness(J)
    and love them freely,(K)
    for my anger has turned away(L) from them.
I will be like the dew(M) to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.(N)
Like a cedar of Lebanon(O)
    he will send down his roots;(P)
    his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,(Q)
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.(R)
People will dwell again in his shade;(S)
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom(T) like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine(U) of Lebanon.(V)
Ephraim, what more have I[b] to do with idols?(W)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;(X)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

Who is wise?(Y) Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.(Z)
The ways of the Lord are right;(AA)
    the righteous walk(AB) in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 14:2 Or offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls
  2. Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim