the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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New Life Version
Hosea 14
Hosea's Last Words to Israel
1 Return to the Lord your God, O Israel, for you have fallen because of your sin. 2 Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, "Take away all sin, and receive us in kindness, that we may praise You with our lips. 3 Assyria will not save us. We will not ride on horses. And we will never say again, ‘Our god,' to what we have made with our hands. For those who have no father find loving-kindness in You."
New Life for Israel
4 "I will bring My people back to Me. I will not hold back My love from them, for I am no longer angry with them. 5 I will be to Israel like the water on the grass in the early morning. He will grow like the lily, and have roots like the cedars of Lebanon. 6 His young branches will spread out and his beauty will be like the olive tree. His smell will be like the cedars of Lebanon. 7 Those who live in his shadow will grow like grain and like flowers of the vine. He will be known like the wine of Lebanon.
8 "O Ephraim, what have I to do with false gods? It is I Who answer and take care of you. I am like a green cypress tree. Your fruit comes from Me."
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things and know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and those who are right and good will follow them, but sinners will not follow them.
