USB ~ Hosea 14

1 Samaria† has become guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed to pieces, a their pregnant women shall be ripped open. b

Sincere Conversion and New Life

2 Return, Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

3 Take with you words, and return to the LORD; Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and take what is good. Let us offer the fruit of our lips. c

4 † Assyria will not save us, nor will we mount horses; d We will never again say, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion.” e

5 I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from them.

6 I will be like the dew for Israel: f he will blossom like the lily; He will strike root like the Lebanon cedar,

7 and his shoots will go forth. g His splendor will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like Lebanon cedar. h

8 Again they will live in his shade; they will raise grain, They will blossom like the vine, and his renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

9 Ephraim! What more have I to do with idols? i I have humbled him, but I will take note of him. I am like a verdant cypress tree.† From me fruit will be found for you!

Epilogue

10 † Who is wise enough to understand these things? j Who is intelligent enough to know them? Straight are the paths of the LORD, k the just walk in them, l but sinners stumble in them.

Footnotes

†. 14:1 Samaria: the capital of the Northern Kingdom will fall; this is the punishment predicted for Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom.

†. 14:4 These good intentions promise a reversal of Israel’s sins: no more reliance on “Assyria,” i.e., on foreign alliances (see notes on 8:9 and 12:2), on “horses,” i.e., on human power (10:13), and on idolatry (8:4-6; 13:2). Israel will trust in the Lord alone.

†. 14:9 Verdant cypress tree: the symbol of lasting life, the opposite of the sacred trees of the Baal cult (4:13). The Lord provides the “fruit” (peri) to Israel (2:7, 10), another instance of the wordplay on Ephraim (see notes on 9:16 and 13:15).

†. 14:10 A challenge to the reader in the style of the wisdom literature.

14:1 Ps 137:9.
14:1 Am 1:13.
14:3 Heb 13:15.
14:4 Is 31:1.
14:4 Lam 5:3.
14:6 Is 26:19.
14:7 Is 27:6.
14:7 Sg 4:11.
14:9 2 Cor 6:16.
14:10 Ps 107:43; Jer 9:11; Eccl 8:1.
14:10 Dt 32:4.
14:10 Dt 8:6; 11:22; Mi 6:8.