Hosea 14

1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity.

2 Take with you words, and return to Yahweh: tell him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render [as] bulls [the offering of] our lips.

3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, [You are] our gods; for in you the fatherless finds mercy.

4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive [as] the grain, and blossom as the vine: the scent of it shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim [shall say], What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is your fruit found.

9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? prudent, that he may know them? for the ways of Yahweh are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.