Hosea 14

A Call to Repentance// Jeremiah 3:11–25; Zechariah 1:1–6

¹Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your God,

for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

• HOS 14:1[NOTE]RETURN. Hosea's last call, so the words are black.

²Bring your confessions

and return to Yahweh.

Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity

and receive us graciously,

that we may present

the fruit of our lips.

• HOS 14:2[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → HEB 13:15

³Assyria will not save us,

nor will we ride on horses.

We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’

to the work of our own hands.

For in You the fatherless find compassion.”

• HOS 14:3[DEMONIC]Israel promises never again to call handmade things our gods

A Promise of God’s Blessing

⁴I will heal their apostasy;

I will freely love them,

for My anger has turned away from them.

• HOS 14:4[NOTABLE]The book ends with healing, not judgment. God's love is free, and it makes the people who return bloom again.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like the lily

and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶His shoots will sprout,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,

his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁷They will return and dwell in his shade;

they will grow grain and blossom like the vine.

His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸O Ephraim, what have I to do

anymore with idols?

It is I who answer and watch over him.

I am like a flourishing cypress;

your fruit comes from Me.

• HOS 14:8[DEMONIC]God asks Ephraim what he has to do with idols anymore

⁹Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them.

For the ways of Yahweh are right,

and the righteous walk in them

but the rebellious stumble in them.