Hosea 14:1-9 NIV
Repentance to Bring Blessing
1Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
2Take Words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.a
3Assyria
cannot save us;
we will
not mount warhorses.
We will
never again say ‘Our gods’
to what
our own hands have made,
for in
you the fatherless find compassion.”
4“I will
heal their waywardness
and love
them freely,
for My
Anger has turned away from them.
5I will
be like the dew to Israel;
he will
blossom like a lily.
Like a
cedar of Lebanon
he will
send down his roots;
6his
young shoots will grow.
His
splendor will be like an olive tree,
his
fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7People
will dwell again in his shade;
they
will flourish like the grain,
they
will blossom like the vine—
Israel’s
fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
I will
answer him and care for him.
I am
like a flourishing juniper;
your
fruitfulness comes from Me.”
9Who is
wise? Let them realize these things.
Who is
discerning? Let them understand.
The Ways
of the Lord are right;
the
righteous walk in them,
but the
rebellious stumble in them.
By the terrible
denunciation of vengeance which concludes the preceding chapter, the prophet is
led to exhort Israel to repentance, furnishing them with a beautiful form of
prayer, very suitable to the occasion, Hosea 14:1-3.
Upon which God, ever
ready to pardon the penitent, is introduced making large promises of blessings,
in allusion to those copious dews which refresh the green herbs, and which
frequently denote, not only temporal salvation, but also the rich and refreshing
comforts of the Gospel, Hosea 14:4-7.
Their reformation from
idolatry is foretold, and their consequent prosperity, under the emblem of a
green flourishing fir tree, Hosea 14:8;
but these promises are confined to those who may bring forth the fruits of
righteousness, and the wicked are declared to have no share in them, Hosea 14:9.
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