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Hosea 14

A Call to Repentance

1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
 for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
 and return to the LORD;
say to him,
 “Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
 and we will pay with bulls
 the vows of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us;
 we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
 to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”

A Promise of God’s Blessing

4 I will heal their apostasy;
 I will love them freely,
 for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
 he shall blossom like the lily;
 he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out;
 his beauty shall be like the olive,
 and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
 they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
 their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
 It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
 from me comes your fruit.

9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
 whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
 and the upright walk in them,
 but transgressors stumble in them.