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The people of Israel will again live under my protection.
    They will grow like grain.
They will bloom like a vine.
    They will be like the wine of Lebanon.

The Lord Warns Israel About Idols

“Ephraim, I will have nothing more to do with idols.
    I am the one who answers your prayers and watches over you.[a]
I am like a fir tree that is always green.
    Your fruit comes from me.”

Final Advice

A wise person understands these things,
    and a smart person should learn them.
The Lord’s ways are right.
    Good people will live by them.
    Sinners will die by them.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 14:8 and watches over you This is a wordplay. The Hebrew word is like the name “Assyria.” God is saying that he, not some foreign country, protects Israel.
  2. Hosea 14:9 Good … die by them Literally, “Good people will walk on them. Sinners will stumble on them.”

People will dwell again in his shade;(A)
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom(B) like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine(C) of Lebanon.(D)
Ephraim, what more have I[a] to do with idols?(E)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;(F)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

Who is wise?(G) Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.(H)
The ways of the Lord are right;(I)
    the righteous walk(J) in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim