Hosea Chapter 14
Showing all 9 verses for Hosea Chapter 14.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. "
"Israel, come back to the LORD your God — because you have fallen because of your own wrongdoing."
Coming home to me starts with one honest sentence: I fell, and it was my own doing. That admission isn't the hard part standing between you and me — it's actually the door opening.
"Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. "
"Bring words with you, and turn to the LORD; say to him, 'Take away all our wrongdoing, and receive us kindly — and we will offer you our praise instead of animal sacrifices.'"
You don't need to bring me anything elaborate to come back — just honest words, spoken plainly, about what's wrong and what you need. I've never needed the performance; I've always just wanted the truth from you.
"Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. "
"Assyria will not save us; we will not rely on cavalry; and we will no longer call the things we've made with our own hands 'our gods' — because in you the orphan finds mercy."
Real change usually means giving up more than one false security at the same time — the alliance, the power move, and the idol are often connected, propping each other up. And remember: my mercy reaches furthest exactly towards those who have the least to offer in return.
"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. "
"I will heal their tendency to wander away; I will love them freely — because my anger has turned away from him."
When you come back honestly, I don't love you a careful, measured amount proportional to how good your apology was — I love you freely, the whole way, immediately. That's not naivety on my part; it's simply what love that's chosen you looks like when you turn around.
"I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. "
"I will be like dew to Israel — he will grow like a lily, and send his roots deep like the cedars of Lebanon."
Healing in your life often looks less like a dramatic transformation and more like quiet, steady nourishment that slowly deepens your roots. Don't measure restoration by how loud it is — measure it by how deep it's going.
"His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. "
"His branches will spread out; his beauty will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon."
A genuinely restored life doesn't stay contained — it spreads outward, its influence and warmth reaching people around it without effort or announcement. Let your own healing become something others can shelter under, the way branches spread shade.
"They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. "
"Those who live in his shade will return; they will come back to life like grain, and grow like a vine — their fame will be like the wine of Lebanon."
When you get healthy — really healthy, rooted and restored — you become shade and shelter for other people, whether you set out to or not. That's part of the point of your own healing: it was never meant to end with just you.
"Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. "
"Ephraim will say, 'What do I have to do with idols any more?' I have answered him and will watch over him closely. I am like a flourishing green fir tree — your fruit is found through me."
Whatever you've been looking to for fruitfulness, success, or fertility in your life — check whether it was ever really the source, or just something standing in front of the real one. I'm not jealous for no reason; I'm telling you plainly where the actual fruit in your life has always come from.
"Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. "
"Whoever is wise will understand these things; whoever is discerning will grasp them — because the LORD's ways are right, and those who live rightly will walk in them, but those who rebel will stumble and fall in them."
Everything you've just read isn't meant to stay a story about someone else long ago — it's meant to become wisdom you actually walk in, today, in your own relationships and choices. The path is the same one open to you right now: understand it, and then let your feet follow what you understand.