Hosea 14 - Modern English Version

A Plea for Repentance

¹ Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

² Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good; and we will offer the fruit of our lips!

³ Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses. We will no longer say, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In You the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴ I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the lily and shall strike his roots like Lebanon.

⁶ His branches will spread out, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.

⁷ Those that dwell under his shadow will return, they will flourish like the grain and grow as a vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after him. I am like a green fir tree; your fruit is found in Me.

⁹ Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever prudent, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just will walk in them; but the transgressors stumble in them.