Hosea 14:1

1 Israel, be thou turned again to thy Lord God, for thou falledest down in thy wickedness. (Israel, return thou to the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen down in thy wickedness.)

Hosea 14:1 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 14:1

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God
From whom they had revolted and backslidden; whose worship and service they had forsaken, and whose word and ordinances they had slighted and neglected, and had served idols, and had given into idolatry, superstition, and will worship; and are here exhorted to turn again to the Lord by repentance and reformation, to abandon their idols, and every false way, and cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart; and the rather, since he was their God; not only their Creator, Preserver, and kind Benefactor, but their God, by his special choice of them above all people; by his covenant with them; by his redemption of them; and by their profession of him; and who was still their God, and ready to receive them, upon their return to him: and a thorough return is here meant, a returning "even unto" ^F23, or quite up to the Lord thy God; it is not a going to him halfway, but a going quite up to his seat; falling down before him, acknowledging sin and backslidings, and having hold upon him by faith as their God, Redeemer, and Saviour: hence, from the way of speaking here used, the Jews ^F24 have a saying, as Kimchi observes,

``great is repentance, for it brings a man to the throne of glory;''

the imperative may be here used for the future, as some take it; and then it is a prediction of the conversion of Israel, "thou shalt return, O Israel" ^F25; and which was in part fulfilled in the first times of the Gospel, which met with many of the Israelites dispersed among the Gentiles, and was the means of their conversion; and will have a greater accomplishment when all Israel shall be converted and saved: for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity;
or "though thou art fallen" {z}; into sin, and by it into ruin, temporal and spiritual; from a state of great prosperity and happiness, both in things civil and religious, into great adversity, and calamities of every sort; yet return, repent, consider from whence thou art fallen, and by what; or thou shall return, be recovered and restored, notwithstanding thy fall, and the low estate in which thou art. The Targum is,

``return to the fear of the Lord.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 (hwhy de) "asque ad Dominum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Oecolampadius, Schmidt, Burkius.
F24 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 86. 1.
F25 (hbwv) "revertere", i. e. "reverteris", Schmidt.
F26 (tlvk yk) "etsi corruisti", Luther apud Tarnovium.

Hosea 14:1 In-Context

1 Israel, be thou turned again to thy Lord God, for thou falledest down in thy wickedness. (Israel, return thou to the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen down in thy wickedness.)

2 Take ye words with you, and be ye turned again to the Lord; and say ye to him, Do thou away all wickedness, and take thou good; and we shall yield the calves of our lips. (Make ye your words ready, and return to the Lord; and say ye to him, Do thou away all our wickedness, and accept our prayers; and we shall give, or offer, sacrifices with our lips.)

3 Assur shall not save us, we shall not go upon horse; and we shall no more say, Our gods be the works of our hands; for thou shalt have mercy on that motherless child, which is in thee. (Assyria shall not save us, and we shall not go on horses; we shall no more say to the works of our hands, Ye be our gods; for only in thee is there mercy, or love, for the motherless child.)

4 (And the Lord saith,) I shall make whole the sorrows of them; I shall love them willfully (I shall love them willingly), for my strong vengeance is turned away from them. [I shall heal the contrition of them; I shall love them of my free will, for my strong vengeance is turned away from them.]

5 I shall be as dew, and Israel shall burgeon as a lily. And the root thereof shall break out as of the Lebanon; (I shall be like the dew, and Israel shall flower like a lily. And it shall be rooted like the mighty trees of Lebanon;)