Hosea 14

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 vows 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 my 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. 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.