A reading from
the Book of the Prophet Hosea 14:2-10
Thus says the Lord:/ Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God;/ you have collapsed through your guilt./ Take with you words,/ and return to the Lord;/ Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,/ and receive what is good, that we may render/ as offerings the bullocks from our stalls./ Assyria will not save us,/ nor shall we have horses to mount;/ We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’/ to the work of our hands;/ for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the Lord,/ I will love them freely;/ for my wrath is turned away from them./ I will be like the dew for Israel:/ he shall blossom like the lily;/ He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,/ and put forth his shoots./ His splendor shall be like the olive tree/ and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar./ Again they shall dwell in his shade/ and raise grain;/ They shall blossom like the vine,/ and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?/ I have humbled him, but I will prosper him./ “I am like a verdant cypress tree”—/ Because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things;/ let him who is prudent know them./ Straight are the paths of the Lord,/ in them the just walk,/ but sinners stumble in them.
The word of the Lord.
