Hosea 14
9 verses
Hosea calls Israel to return to the LORD with words of repentance, acknowledging their iniquity and asking God to take away all guilt and receive them graciously, offering the fruit of lips instead of sacrificial offerings. The prophet envisions Israel's restoration as a reversal of the judgment that has characterized the entire book: they will flourish like the lily, strike roots like the forests of Lebanon, and become fragrant with beauty as their name spreads. God promises to heal Israel's apostasy and love them freely now that their anger has turned away, making them fruitful and verdant in contrast to the wasteland judgment had threatened. The final rhetorical questions—"Who is wise that he may understand these things? Who is discerning that he may know them?"—invite readers to grasp that the ways of the LORD are right and that the righteous walk in them while the rebellious stumble, encapsulating the choice between covenant loyalty and judgment that defines human response to God's love. This closing chapter transforms Hosea's prophecy into an invitation and promise: God's steadfast love persists beyond judgment, ready to receive the returning people with healing and restoration, and the entire trajectory from chapters 1–13 finds its resolution in the possibility of genuine repentance and renewed covenantal relationship.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
0 0Open verse page →
2
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
0 0Open verse page →
3
Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
0 0Open verse page →
4
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
0 0Open verse page →
5
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
0 0Open verse page →
6
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
0 1Open verse page →
7
They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
0 0Open verse page →
8
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.
0 0Open verse page →
9
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!