Hosea 14:1
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Study Note
Study Note
Hosea's final call to repentance — 'return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity' — concludes the book's sustained movement between accusation and invitation, judgment and restoration. The verb 'return' (shuv) is the characteristic prophetic word for repentance, carrying the literal spatial sense of turning back combined with the relational sense of returning to a person — to the LORD specifically. The acknowledgment that Israel has 'stumbled because of your iniquity' frames the call to return as a diagnostic statement: the cause of distress is moral-spiritual and therefore addressed by the same movement (return) that will restore. Hosea 14:2-9 provides the most exquisitely elaborated description of restoration in the minor prophets, making chapter 14 the theological culmination of the entire book.
Other Translations
O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Turn back, O Israel, unto Jehovah thy God, For thou hast stumbled by thine iniquity.
O Israel, come back to the Lord your God; for your evil-doing has been the cause of your fall.
Cross References
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and …
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations …
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of …
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will …
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an …
The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to …
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, …
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and …