Hosea 14

1Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword; their little children shall be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

2Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity.

3Take words with you and return to Yahweh. Say to him, “Take away all iniquity and receive what is good, and we will repay with the fruit of our lips.”

4Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer say, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the fatherless finds mercy.

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

6I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily, and he will strike his roots like Lebanon.

7Its shoots will spread out, and its splendor will be like the olive tree, and its fragrance like Lebanon.

8Those who dwell in his shade will return; they will revive like grain and blossom like the vine; his renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

9Ephraim—what have I to do anymore with idols? I have answered him and will look after him. I am like a flourishing cypress; from me your fruit is found.

10Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is discerning? Let him know them. For the ways of Yahweh are straight, and the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.