Hosea 14

A Plea to Return to the Lord 1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
   for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 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 vowsSeptuagint, Syriac pay the fruit of our lips. 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."

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

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

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.