4I will heal their apostasy,
         I will love them freely,
         For My anger has turned away from them.

5I will be like the dew to Israel;
         He will blossom like the lily,
         And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

6His shoots will sprout,
         And his beauty will be like the olive tree
         And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

7Those who live in his shadow
         Will again raise grain,
         And they will blossom like the vine.
         His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
         It is I who answer and look after you.
         I am like a luxuriant cypress;
         From Me comes your fruit.

9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
         Whoever is discerning, let him know them.
         For the ways of the LORD are right,
         And the righteous will walk in them,
         But transgressors will stumble in them.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

Darby Bible Translation
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.

English Revised Version
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him..

Webster's Bible Translation
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him.

World English Bible
"I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

Young's Literal Translation
I heal their backsliding, I love them freely, For turned back hath Mine anger from him.December 4. "From Me is Thy Fruit Found" (Hos. xiv. 8).
"From me is thy fruit found" (Hos. xiv. 8). Nothing keeps us from advancement more than ruts and drifts, and wheel-tracks into which our chariots roll and then move on in the narrow line with unchanging monotony, currents in life's stream on which we are borne in the old direction until the law of habit almost makes advance impossible. The true remedy for this is to commence at nothing; taking Christ afresh to be the Alpha and Omega for a deeper, higher, Divine experience, waiting even for His conception …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Colloquy Between a Penitent and God
'A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God.'---JER. iii. 21, 22. We have here a brief dramatic dialogue. First is heard a voice from the bare heights, the sobs and cries of penitence, produced by the prophet's earnest remonstrance. The penitent …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Israel Returning
'O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Dew and the Plants
'I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree ...'--Hosea xiv. 5, 6. Like his brethren, Hosea was a poet as well as a prophet. His little prophecy is full of similes and illustrations drawn from natural objects; scarcely any of them from cities or from the ways of men; almost all of them from Nature, as seen in the open country, which he evidently loved, and where he had looked …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Fresh Supplies of Power.
"As the Dew." There is another very important bit needed to complete the circle of truth we are going over together in these quiet talks. Namely, the daily life after the act of surrender and all that comes with that act. The steady pull day by day. After the eagle-flight up into highest air, and the hundred yards dash, or even the mile run, comes the steady, steady walking mile after mile. The real test of life is here. And the highest victories are here, too. I recall the remark made by a friend …
S.D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on Power

Where to Find Fruit
According to Master Trapp, some read this passage, "In me is thy fruit ready." Certain it is that at all times, whenever we approach to God, we shall find in him a ready supply for every lack. The best of trees have fruit on them only at appointed seasons. Who is so unreasonable as to look for fruit upon the peach or the plum at this season of the year? No drooping boughs beckon us to partake of their ripening crops, for Winter's cold still nips the buds. But our God hath fruit at all times: the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

The Joyous Return
"When God's right arm is bared for war, And thunders clothe his cloudy car." e'en then he stays his uplifted hand, reins in the steeds of vengeance, and holds communion with grace; "for his mercy endureth for ever," and "judgment is his strange work." To use another figure: the whole book of Hosea is like a great trial wherein witnesses have appeared against the accused, and the arguments and excuses of the guilty have been answered and baffled. All has been heard for them, and much, very much against …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Great Change
"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."--Hosea 14:8. THIS PASSAGE IS in very vivid contrast to what Ephraim had previously said, as it is recorded in the early part of Hosea's prophecy. If you turn to the second chapter, and the fifth verse, you will find this same Ephraim saying, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink." …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 42: 1896

Grace Abounding
Since the word "freely" is the very key-note of the text, we must observe its common meaning among men. We use the word "freely" for that which is given without money and without price. It is opposed to all idea of bargaining, to all acceptance of an equivalent, or that which might be construed into an equivalent. A man is said to give freely when he bestows his charity on applicants simply on the ground of their poverty, hoping for nothing again. A man distributes freely when, without asking any …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

6Th Day. Restoring Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "I will heal their backsliding."--HOSEA xiv. 4. Restoring Grace. Wandering again! And has He not left me to perish? Stumbling and straying on the dark mountains, away from the Shepherd's eye and the Shepherd's fold, shall He not leave the erring wanderer to the fruit of his own ways, and his truant heart to go hopelessly onward in its career of guilty estrangement? "My thoughts," says God, "are not as your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." Man would say, "Go, …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
(From the Gospel for the day; and from Hosea xiv. 1, 2.) Of the great wonders which God has wrought, and still works for us Christian men; wherefore it is just and reasonable that we should turn unto Him and follow Him, and whereby we may discern between true and false conversion. Matt. viii. 23.--"Jesus went into a ship, and His disciples followed Him." And Hosea xiv. 1, 2.--"O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; take with you words, and turn to the Lord." WE read in the Gospel for this day that …
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

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