Hosea 14:1-8

Israel's Future Blessing

1 ¹Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your ²iniquity.

2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, "³Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may ⁴present the fruit of our lips.

3 "Assyria will not save us, We will ⁵not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, '⁶Our god,' To the ⁷work of our hands; For in ⁸You the orphan finds mercy."

4 I will ⁹heal their apostasy, I will ¹⁰love them freely, For My anger has ¹¹turned away from them.

5 I will be like the ¹²dew to Israel; He will blossom like the ¹³lily, And he will take root like the cedars of ¹⁴Lebanon.

6 His shoots will sprout, And his beauty will be like the ¹⁵olive tree And his fragrance like the cedars of ¹⁶Lebanon.

7 Those who ¹⁷live in his shadow Will again raise ¹⁸grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 O Ephraim, what more have I to do with ¹⁹idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like a luxuriant ²⁰cypress; From ²¹Me comes your fruit.

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Hosea 14:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 14

This chapter concludes the book, with gracious promises to repenting sinners, to returning backsliders. It begins with an exhortation to Israel to return to the Lord, seeing he was their God, and they had fallen by sin from prosperity into adversity, temporal and spiritual, Ho 14:1; and they are directed what to say to the Lord, upon their return to him, both by way of petition, and of promise and of resolution how to behave for the future, encouraged by his grace and mercy, Ho 14:2,3; and they are told what the Lord, by way of answer, would say to them, Ho 14:4; and what he would be to them; and what blessings of grace he would bestow on them; and in what flourishing and fruitful circumstances they should be, Ho 14:5-8; and the chapter ends with a character of such that attend to and understand those things; and with a recommendation of the ways of the Lord, which are differently regarded by men, Ho 14:9.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 21

1. Hosea 6:1; Hosea 10:12; Hosea 12:6; Joel 2:13
2. Hosea 4:8; Hosea 5:5; Hosea 9:7
3. Micah 7:18, 19
4. Psalms 51:16, 17; Hosea 6:6; Hebrews 13:15
5. Psalms 33:17; Isaiah 31:1
6. Hosea 8:6; Hosea 13:2
7. Hosea 4:12
8. Psalms 10:14; Psalms 68:5
9. Isaiah 57:18; Hosea 6:1
10. Zephaniah 3:17
11. Isaiah 12:1
12. Proverbs 19:12; Isaiah 26:19
13. Song of Songs 2:1; Matthew 6:28
14. Isaiah 35:2
15. Jeremiah 11:16
16. Song of Songs 4:11
17. Ezekiel 17:23
18. Hosea 2:21, 22
19. Job 34:32; Hosea 14:3
20. Isaiah 41:19
21. Ezekiel 17:23

Footnotes 10

[a]. Ch 14:2 in Heb
[b]. Or "in"
[c]. Or "accept that which is good"
[d]. So with ancient versions; M.T. "our lips as bulls"
[e]. Or "fatherless"
[f]. Lit "strike his roots"
[g]. Lit "go"
[h]. Or "splendor"
[i]. Or "return, they will raise grain"
[j]. Lit "him"