Hosea 14

1Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, for your guilt has made you stumble. 2Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him, “Take away all guilt, and accept what is good, and we will offer our lips in place of bulls. 3Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride on horses. Never again will we say ‘Our god’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the orphan finds compassion.” 4I will heal their unfaithfulness; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. 5To Israel I will be like the dew; he will blossom like a lily and send down his roots like the cedars of Lebanon. 6His young shoots will spread out; his beauty will be like the olive tree’s, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. 7Those who live in his shade will come back; they will flourish like grain and blossom like the vine; his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I am the one who answers him and watches over him. I am like a cypress, green and full of leaves; your fruit comes from me. 9Who is wise enough to understand these things? Who is discerning enough to know them? For the ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but rebels stumble in them.