Hosea 14:2

"Turn back, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, 'Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.'" LXX: "Convert, O Israel, to the Lord your God, because you have been weakened by your iniquities: Take with you words, and return to the Lord, say to him, 'Take away all iniquity, and receive what is good, and we will render the calves of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: you are our gods; for the fatherless finds mercy in you.'" As Samaria was perishing. "And men, women, and children having been killed, slaughtered, and torn apart, Israel as a whole is provoked to repentance so that he who is sick or has fallen in his iniquities may return to the doctor and receive health, or he who has fallen may begin to stand up again; and it is taught how one should do penance. 'Take with you words,' that is to say, prayers and confession of sins, and turn to the Lord both in words and in works; and say to Him: 'Take away all iniquity,' leave nothing of our weakness and former ruin, lest again the evil seed bring forth live plants. And He says, 'Accept the good': For if You do not take away our evils, we cannot have anything good to offer You, according to what is written elsewhere: 'Turn away from evil and do good, and we will offer You the calves of our lips.'" (Psalm 36:27) For the calves which in Hebrew are called Pharim, the Septuagint translated "fruit" as Pheri, by a similarity of false speech. But the calves of our lips are praises to God and thanksgiving: "For a contrite spirit is a sacrifice to God" (Ps. L, 19). […]

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.

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!"

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.

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!" But instead thereof, in dulcet tones He cries, "O Israel, return unto the Lord your God." In the midst of wrath He remembers mercy— "When God's right arm is bared for war, And thunders clothe His cloudy car," even then He stays His uplifted hand, reins in the steeds of vengeance, and holds communion with Grace—"for His mercy endures forever," 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 them—and the convicted stand at the bar to hear their sentence. Behold the Judge, instead of putting on the black cap to pronounce doom of death, stretches out His hands to the condemned and, in tones of pity, cries, "O Israel, return"! This is a wonderful chapter to be at the end of such a book.