Hosea 14:2-9

2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[a]
3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
4 “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;
6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine— Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what more have I[b] to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me.”
9 Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Cross References 28

  • 1. S Exodus 34:9
  • 2. Psalms 51:16-17; Micah 7:18-19
  • 3. Hebrews 13:15
  • 4. S Hosea 5:13
  • 5. Psalms 33:17; S Isaiah 31:1; Micah 5:10
  • 6. Hosea 8:6
  • 7. ver 28; Hosea 13:2
  • 8. Psalms 10:14; Psalms 68:5; Jeremiah 49:11
  • 9. S Isaiah 30:26; S Hosea 6:1
  • 10. S Jeremiah 2:19
  • 11. S Isaiah 55:1; Jeremiah 31:20; Zephaniah 3:17
  • 12. S Job 13:16
  • 13. S Genesis 27:28; S Isaiah 18:4
  • 14. S Song of Songs 2:1
  • 15. Isaiah 35:2
  • 16. Job 29:19
  • 17. Psalms 52:8; S Jeremiah 11:16
  • 18. S Psalms 92:12; S Song of Songs 4:11
  • 19. Psalms 91:1-4
  • 20. S Genesis 40:10
  • 21. S Hosea 2:22
  • 22. S Ezekiel 17:23
  • 23. S ver 3
  • 24. S Isaiah 37:24
  • 25. S Psalms 107:43
  • 26. S Proverbs 10:29; S Isaiah 1:28; Daniel 12:10
  • 27. Psalms 111:7-8; Zephaniah 3:5; Acts 13:10
  • 28. Isaiah 26:7

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls"
  • [b]. Or Hebrew; Septuagint "What more has Ephraim"
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