Hosea 14 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

A Plea to Return to the Lord

Hos 14:1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Hos 14:2Take 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[fn] of our lips.

Hos 14:3

Hos 14:3Assyria 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.”

Hos 14:4

Hos 14:4I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.

Hos 14:5

Hos 14:5I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;

Hos 14:6

Hos 14:6his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.

Hos 14:7

Hos 14:7They shall return and dwell beneath my[fn] shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Hos 14:8

Hos 14:8O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.[fn]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from me comes your fruit.

Hos 14:9

Hos 14:9Whoever 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.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(14:2)

Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit

(14:7)

Hebrew his

(14:8)

Hebrew him

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.