Hoseachapter 14
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Key verse
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.
It stands in I will heal their backsliding and be as the dew to Israel, verses 4 to 8.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The book closes with the shortest road home and the most beautiful. 'O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words', and the words are given: take away all iniquity, Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, we will call no more the work of our hands our gods, 'for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.' God's answer is pure grace: 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely… I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily.' Ephraim renounces idols at last; the final verse asks who is wise enough to understand these things.
Context
Prophecy · Hosea · Hosea overview
The world behind this chapter
Hosea 14The history
Take with you words is a striking instruction in a culture where you never approached a superior empty-handed. A petitioner brought a gift; a worshipper brought an animal. Here the prophet writes out the sentences to bring instead, and then says: we will offer the bulls of our lips.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The two things renounced are the two things Israel had actually trusted. Assyria was the great-power alliance, and horses meant Egypt, which was the region's supplier of cavalry and chariot teams. Giving up both meant giving up every military option a small state had.
The promises are a catalogue of the country's best plant life, and each carries its own point. Dew is the moisture that keeps growth going through the rainless summer. The lily blooms fast and beautifully but has no root, so the cedars of Lebanon are added for depth. The olive tree keeps its leaves through drought and lives for centuries. The vine is the crop that means settled peace, and the cypress is evergreen.
The closing line steps outside the sermon and addresses the reader directly: whoever is wise, let him understand these things. That kind of ending belongs to Israel's wisdom writing, and it signals that the book is meant to be studied, not just heard once.
What it meant to them
For a nation whose worship had been a transaction with a rain god, the promise that God would be the dew and that Israel's fruit would come from him settles the argument the whole book has been having. The harvest was never something you bought.
The words put in their mouths matter as much as the promise. Say to him: take away all iniquity, receive us graciously, in you the fatherless finds mercy. Israel is told to come home admitting it is an orphan, which is the one thing a nation that had been so proud of its ancestry would never have said on its own.
Sources cited
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: The Minor Prophets
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Where the chapter sits
Hosea 14 falls in The LORD's controversy with Israel (chapters 4–14). Oracles against the northern kingdom's idolatry, political faithlessness, and corruption, closing with the great call ‘O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God’ (14:1).
Return, O Israel. ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.’ The book closes on restoration.
Before it: The marriage and the children, chapters 1–3.
The whole shape of Hosea→The structure of this chapter
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Take words with you and return to the LORDvv. 1-3
return unto the Lord thy God: O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity, opens the book's closing appeal, and verse 2 gives Israel the very words to bring, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips. Henry and Gill both read that last phrase as praise offered in place of animal sacrifice, the lips doing what the altar once did, an idea the writer of Hebrews later takes up as the fruit of our lips (Heb 13:15). Verse 3 renounces the three false securities named across the book in one breath, Assyria's army, Egypt's horses, and the idols called our gods, closing with the plain reason, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
Hosea 14:1
“O Israel, return - (now, quite) unto the Lord your God The heavy and scarcely interrupted tide of denunciation is now past. Billow upon billow have rolled over Ephraim and the last wave discharged itself in the overwhelming, indiscriminating destruction of the seat of its strength. As a nation, it was to cease to be. its separate existence was a curse, not a blessing; the offspring of rivalry, matured by apostasy; the parent, in its turn, of jealousy, hatred, and mutual vexation.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Hosea 14:1
We are in the last chapter of the book of the Prophet Hosea. Throughout the book there has been thunder— sometimes a low rumbling, as of a distant tempest—sometimes peal on peal, as of a storm immediately overhead. And now the tempest has gathered all its force. Here it culminates. You expect the bolt of Heaven to destroy. Lo, instead thereof, a silver shower of mercy! The gentle drops come down plenteously and you hear them fall upon the tender herb like soft and low music. God does not say, "O Israel, depart accursed!"
Hosea 14:2
“Take with you words, and turn to the Lord,.... Not mere words without the heart, but such as come from it, and express the true sense of it; words of confession, as the Targum; by which sin is acknowledged, and repentance declared, and forgiveness asked.”
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 14:2
“Take with you words - And you may be assured that you pray aright, when you use the words which God himself has put in your mouths. On this very ground there is a potency in the Lord’s Prayer, when offered up believingly, beyond what can be found in any human composition. And it may be presumed that it was this consideration that induced our reformers to introduce it so frequently in the public liturgy. See the order of God’s directions here: - 1. Hearing these merciful invitations, believe them to be true.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hosea 14:2
“Thus the exile, wherein the temple service ceased, prepared the way for the gospel time when the types of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament being realized in Christ's perfect sacrifice once for all, "the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips" (Heb 13:14) takes their place in the New Testament.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Hosea 14:3
“THE Lord God of Israel, the one only living and true God, has this for a special mark of His Character, that in Him the fatherless finds mercy. "A Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation." False gods of the heathen are usually notable for their supposed power or cunning, or even for their wickedness, falsehood, lustfulness and cruelty. But our God, who made the heavens, is the Thrice Holy One. He is the Holy God and He is also full of love.”
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 14:3
“Three besetting sins of Israel are here renounced, trust in Assyria, application to Egypt for its cavalry (forbidden, De 17:16; compare Ho 7:11; 31:1), and idolatry. fatherless--descriptive of the destitute state of Israel, when severed from God, their true Father.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
B. I will heal their backsliding and be as the dew to Israel
1. (vv. 4-7)
Hosea 14:4
“I will heal their backsliding - Here is the answer of God to these prayers and resolutions. See its parts: - 1. Ye have backslidden and fallen, and are grievously and mortally wounded by that fall; but I, who am the Author of life, and who redeem from death, will heal all these wounds and spiritual diseases. 2. I will love them freely - נדבה nedabah, after a liberal, princely manner. I will love them so as to do them incessant good. It shall not be a love of affection merely, but shall be a beneficial love.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 14:4
“God's gracious reply to their self-condemning prayer. backsliding--apostasy: not merely occasional backslidings. God can heal the most desperate sinfulness [CALVIN]. freely--with a gratuitous, unmerited, and abundant love (Eze 16:60-63).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Hosea 14:4
“THIS SENTENCE IS A BODY of divinity in miniature. He who understands its meaning is a theologian, and he who can dive into its fullness is a true Master in divinity. “I will love them freely,” is a condensation of the glorious message of salvation which was delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer. The sense hinges upon the word “freely.” “I will love them freely.” Here is the glorious, the suitable, the divine way by which love streams from heaven to earth. It is, indeed, the only way in which God can love such as we are.”
Hosea 14:5
“The common lily is white, consisting of six leaves opening like bells. The royal lily grows to the height of three or four feet; Mt 6:29 alludes to the beauty of its flowers. roots as Lebanon--that is, as the trees of Lebanon (especially the cedars), which cast down their roots as deeply as is their height upwards; so that they are immovable [JEROME], (Isa 10:34).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 14:5
“This is our Faith. Thus did God will that He should be known by all, thus believed the three children, and felt not the fire into the midst whereof they were cast, which destroyed and burnt up unbelievers, whilst it fell harmless as dew upon the faithful, for whom the flames kindled by others became cold, seeing that the torment had justly lost its power in conflict with faith. For with them there was One in the form of an angel, comforting them, to the end that in the number of the Trinity one Supreme Power might be praised.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· Exposition of the Christian Faith 1:4.33patristic
Hosea 14:6
“His branches shall spread,.... As the well rooted cedars in Lebanon; see Num 24:6. This respects the propagation of the church of God, and the interest of Christ in the world, as in the first times of the Gospel, and will be in the latter day; when the Gospel shall be spread everywhere; churches set up in all places; the Jews converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; and these like spreading branches, and fruitful boughs, abounding in grace and good works.”
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 14:6
“The lily depicts its lovely growth; but as it wants duration and firmness, the deeply rooted cedars of Lebanon are added; these, however, are fruitless, therefore the fruitful, peace-bearing, fragrant, ever green olive is added. smell as Lebanon--which exhaled from it the fragrance of odoriferous trees and flowers.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Hosea 14:7
“They that dwell under his shadow - that is, the shadow of the restored Israel, who had just been described under the image of a magnificent tree uniting in itself all perfections. : “They that are under the shadow of the Church are together under the shadow of Christ the Head thereof, and also of God the Father.” The Jews, of old, explained it , “they shall dwell under the shadow of their Messias.” These, he says, “shall return,” i. e., they shall turn to be quite other than they had been, even back to Him, to whom they belonged, whose creatures they were, God. “They shall revive as the corn.” The words may be differently rendered, in the same general meaning.”
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 14:7
“They that dwell under his shadow shall return,.... Either under the shadow of Lebanon, as Japhet and Jarchi; the shadow of that mountain, or of the trees that grew upon it; or under the shadow of Israel, the church, to which young converts have recourse, and under which they sit with pleasure; or rather under the shadow of the Lord Israel was called to return unto, and now return, Hos 14:1; as the Israelites will in the latter day.”
Hosea 14:7
“Compare Ho 14:6, "His smell as Lebanon"; So 1:3: "Thy name is as ointment poured forth." The Septuagint favors the Margin, "memorial." as the wine of Lebanon--which was most celebrated for its aroma, flavor, and medicinal restorative properties.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Hosea 14:7
“God smells a sweet savour from their spiritual sacrifices ( Gen. viii. 21 ), and they are accepted of the multitude of the brethren. Grace is the perfume of the soul, the perfume of the name, makes it like a precious ointment, Eccl. vii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
heal their backsliding: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him, answers the appeal without one condition attached, the healing offered before any repayment is named. The dew, the lily, the roots of Lebanon, the spreading olive tree, and the corn and vine of verse 7 gather nearly every image of quiet, unforced growth the Hebrew Bible owns into four verses, a deliberate reversal of the drought and blight of chapter 13. Pusey reads the return of the Lebanon fragrance in verse 7 as answering the withered fountain of 13:15 point for point, judgment's picture undone by grace's.
2. (v. 8)
Hosea 14:8
“What have I to do any more with idols? - The conversion of Ephraim is now as complete as if was sincere. God hears and observes this. I am like a green fir tree - Perhaps these words should be joined to the preceding, as Newcome has done, and be a part of God’s speech to Ephraim. “I have heard him; and I have seen him as a flourishing fir tree.” He is become strong and vigorous; and from his present appearance of healthiness, his future increase and prosperity may be safely anticipated.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 14:8
“THE text has a double significance. It may indicate the fruit upon which we feed, or the fruit which we are enabled to produce. If it shall mean the first, there is mach of comfort in it. The Lord has compared himself, in his condescending mercy, to a green fir tree in the sentence which precedes the text. The fir tree in the East yields a most goodly shade. Neither the burning heat of the sun, nor the drops of pouring rain can.pass through the dense foliage, and therefore it affords a welcome shelter to the traveler.”
What have I to do any more with idols?: Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols, gives the restored nation its own renunciation in its own mouth, the same turn away from Baal that opened chapter 13 now spoken freely rather than forced. The verse then shifts speaker without warning, I have heard him, and observed him, I am like a green fir tree, from me is thy fruit found, and the commentators divide over the voice: some hear Ephraim still speaking of the Lord in the third person before the last line turns to the Lord's own answer, others hear the Lord speaking throughout, the evergreen tree standing over against the idols that cannot bear fruit at all. Either reading lands on the same point, that Ephraim's fruit now comes from the Lord and not from Baal.
C. Who is wise? The ways of the LORD are rightv. 9
the ways of the Lord are right: The book's last verse steps outside the prophecy to address the reader directly, who is wise, and he shall understand these things, prudent, and he shall know them, a colophon in the manner of the wisdom writers rather than a prophetic oracle. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein, states in one sentence what the fourteen chapters behind it have shown at length, that the same word which is life to the obedient is a stumbling block to the rebellious. The bench reads it as an invitation back over the whole book, urging a second reading rather than a first.
Hosea 14:9
"Who is wise and will understand these things? Who is prudent and will know them? Because the ways of the Lord are straight, and the just shall walk in them; But the transgressors shall fall therein." LXX: "Who is wise and will understand these things, or prudent and will know them? For the ways of the Lord are straight and the just shall walk in them: but the wicked shall fall therein." When he says, "Who is wise and will understand these things?
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 14:10patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 14:9
“Who is wise and he shall understand these things? - The prophet says this, not of the words in which he had spoken, but of the substance. He does not mean that his style was obscure, or that he had delivered the message of God in a way difficult to be understood. This would have been to fail of his object. Nor does he mean that human acuteness is the key to the things of God. He means that those only of a certain character, those “wise,” through God, unto God, will understand the things of God.”
Hosea 14:9
“And the ways wherein God walks towards us, in afflicting or comforting are all righteous and equal. Shall walk in them - Will approve them all, justifying the righteousness of God's displeasure, and confessing he remembereth mercy in the midst of judgment.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hosea 14:9
And to such a degree does the gospel desire that there should be wise people among believers, that for the sake of exercising the understanding of its hearers, it has spoken certain truths in enigmas, others in what are called "dark" sayings, others in parables, and others in problems. And one of the prophets—Hosea—says at the end of his prophecy, "Who is wise, and he will understand these things? Or prudent, and he shall know them?"
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· AGAINST CELSUS 3:45patristic
This page carries no textual note on Hosea 14. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.