ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Hosea 14.1-2

Book: Hosea · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. 2. Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.

  1. Assyria 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 him. (Hosea 14:1-4, ASV)
WEB

1. Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin. 2. Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls.

  1. Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.” 4. “I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him. (Hosea 14:1-4, WEB)
KJV

1. 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. receive: or, give good

  1. 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 him. (Hosea 14:1-4, KJV)
YLT

1. Turn back, O Israel, unto Jehovah thy God, For thou hast stumbled by thine iniquity. 2. Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah, Say ye unto Him: 'Take away all iniquity, and give good, And we do render the fruit of our lips.

  1. Asshur doth not save us, on a horse we ride not, Nor do we say any more, Our God, to the work of our hands, For in Thee find mercy doth the fatherless.' 4. I heal their backsliding, I love them freely, For turned back hath Mine anger from him. (Hosea 14:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Hosea, calling the nation to return, and supplying the words to use
  • Audience: Israel
  • Location: the northern kingdom of Israel, repeatedly called Ephraim after its dominant tribe
  • Time period: the closing oracle of the book, on the eve of the Assyrian conquest

Theological reading

The instruction is specific and unusual: "take with you words." The returning nation is handed the script it is to use, which addresses the failure of chapter 6, where the people composed their own liturgy and it evaporated like morning dew. What they are told to ask for is the removal of iniquity and the acceptance of what good they have.

What they bring is "the offering of our lips," speech in place of livestock. This matches 6:6 and the wider prophetic critique, which is not the abolition of sacrifice but the refusal to let it stand in for the loyalty it signified. The chapter then closes the book in agricultural imagery, dew, lily, cedar, olive and vine, restoring to Ephraim the fruitfulness its name claims and 9:16 had revoked.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.