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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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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.
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(14-3) Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Hosea 14:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 51:2-10 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
- Hebrews 13:15 Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.
- Job 34:31-32 “For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more. Teach me that which I don’t see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
- Job 7:21 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”
- Micah 7:18-19 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
- Psalms 69:30-31 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
- 1 John 3:5 You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and no sin is in him.
- 2 Samuel 12:13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.
- Joel 2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
- 2 Samuel 24:10 David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”
- Ezekiel 36:25-26 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
- Zechariah 3:4 He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”
- Luke 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
- Ephesians 2:7-8 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
- 2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,
- Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
- 1 Peter 2:5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- Isaiah 6:7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
- Matthew 6:9-13 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
- Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
- Luke 11:2-4 He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ ”
- Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
- Luke 15:21-24 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
- John 1:29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- Romans 11:27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”
- Ephesians 1:6-7 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved, in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
- 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He afterwards shows the way of repentance: and this…
He afterwards shows the way of repentance: and this passage deserves to be noticed; for we know that men bring forward mere trifles when they speak of repentance. Hence when the word, repentance, is mentioned, men imagine that God is to be pacified with this or that ceremony, as we see to be the case with those under the Papacy. And what is their repentance? Even this, — if on certain days they fast, if they mutter short prayers, if they undertake vowed pilgrimages, if they buy masses, — if with these trifles they weary themselves, they think that the right and the required repentance is brought before God: but all this is altogether absurd. As then the world understands not what repentance means, and to what it leads, the Prophet here sets forth true repentance by its fruits. He therefore says, Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; and say to him, Take away all iniquity and bring good, and we will render to thee the calves of our lips When he bids them to take or find words to present instead of sacrifice, he no doubt alluded to what the law teaches.
First, it is certain that the Prophet speaks not of feigned words; for we know what God declares by Isaiah,
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‘This people draw nigh me with their lips, but their heart is from me far distant,’ (Isaiah 29:13.)
But he bids them to take words, by which they might show what was conceived and felt in their heart. Then he means this first, that their words should correspond with their feeling.
It must, secondly, be noticed, that the Prophet speaks not here of any sort of words, but that there is to be a mutual relation between the words of God and the words of men. How are we then to bring words to God, such as prove the genuineness of our piety? Even by being teachable and submissive; by suffering willingly when he chastises us, by confessing what we deserve when he reproves us, by humbly deprecating vengeance when he threatens us, by embracing pardon when he promises it. When we thus take words from God’s mouth, and bring them to him, this is to take words according to what the Prophet means in this place. We hence see the import of the Prophet’s exhortation, when he bids us to take words: but I cannot proceed further now.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He exhorteth them to repentance to avoid all these…
He exhorteth them to repentance to avoid all these plagues, willing them to declare by words their obedience and repentance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 14:2 Take with you words, and turn to…
Hos 14:2 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.
Ver. 2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord] Confess your sins, beg pardon, and promise amendment. Sue to God to give you those words that he bids you take: go to him in his own words, put his promises in suit; crave the help of his Holy Spirit, without which what can we do? Rom 8:26. Say to God, as Job 37:19, "Teach us what we shall say unto thee: for we cannot order our words, by reason of darkness." David promiseth not only to pray, but to marshal up his prayers, to put them in good array, so the word signifieth, Psa 5:3, "In the morning will I direct my prayer," order it in the best manner: his words should be nec lecta, nec neglecta, neither curious nor careless, but such as are humble, earnest, and direct to the point, avoiding vain babblings. Here is a form prescribed in the text (forms of prayer therefore are not so unlawful as some conceive them), words put into their mouths (as the phrase is, 2Sa 14:3), that they might not miss. Men must as well look to their words as to their feet, when they come before God; and see that their affections in prayer be not without answerable expressions. Take with you such words as may testify that ye turn heartily to the Lord, and not from the teeth outward, as they in the Psalmist, Psa 78:36-37. Turn before ye begin to pray; for God heareth not sinners, since their incense smells of their hand that offereth it, Isa 1:13.
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Say unto him] Mentally and vocally; with spirit and speech. True it is, that prayer is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart; and God hath promised to answer his people before they call, Isa 65:24. By calling upon his name we neither inform him of what he knoweth not, nor move him to show us more mercy than he intendeth. But yet prayers are necessary, as means which God will have used, that we may receive what he of free mercy giveth. Besides, it prepareth us holily to enjoy the things received; and makes us ready, either to wait for them, or to want them; and to be content that he may be glorified, though we be not gratified. And although God knoweth our thoughts, and understands the mind of the spirit, as being the searcher of hearts, Rom 8:27, yet he calls for the calves of our lips, the service of our tongues, Jas 3:9, guiding them now and then in a wonderful manner, far beyond all natural apprehension: and strangely enabling his praying servants, who do also find no small benefit by this practice of pouring out their hearts before him, both of the preventing of distractions, and kindling affections, and discerning their profiting in holy desires; for the more worthy effect followeth where more fervent affection went before.
Take away all iniquity] Few words, but full of matter: O quam multa, quam paucis! (Cicero, de Bruti epistola). What a short but pithy prayer is this! Such was that of the publican, Luk 18:13; that of our Saviour in his agony, when yet he is said to pray more fervently; that also which he taught us to pray, Mat 6:7-8, &c., set in fiat opposition to Paganish battologies. This in the text is not much unlike that perfect pattern; for here they are taught to beg, Ut auferantur sua maleficia, conferantur Dei beneficia, Take away all evil, and give good; and then to restipulate thanks, "So will we render," &c. Take away from us, as an unsupportable burden, such as we cannot stand under, all iniquity, stain and sting, crime and curse, power and punishment, that there be no later reckonings; cross out the black lines of our sins with the red lines of thy Son’s blood, that Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world by his merit and Spirit, by his value and virtue; that true scape goat, that carrieth the sins of his people into the wilderness, Joh 1:29 Heb 9:28.
And receive us graciously] Heb. Receive good, that is (as some interpret it), Accept, out of thy fatherly favour, the true witnesses and effects of our thorough conversion. But better they that thus sense it, Take good, to wit, to bestow upon us, as Psa 68:19 cf. Eph 4:8. And it is not improbable (saith Dr Reynolds) that the prophet here secretly leadeth us to Christ the Mediator, who first receiveth gifts from his Father, and then poureth out them forth upon his Church, Act 2:33.
So will we render the calves of our lips] Thy benefits shall not be cast away upon unthankful persons; but we will present unto thee a sacrifice that will please thee better than an ox or bullock, that hath horns and hoofs, Psa 69:31. This cannot be done but by a sound convert; for the leper’s lips must be covered according to the law; and the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord. To the wicked God saith, "What hast thou to do to take my name into thy mouth," &c.; he liketh not a good motion from an ill mouth, as that state in the story: The lip of excellence becometh not a fool, {Pro 17:7} no more than lying doth a worthy man that is renowned for his wisdom. It well becometh the saints to be thankful, to cover God’s altar with the calves of their lips. This expression implieth (saith one) that God’s people should not offer their thankfulness to God of that which cost them nothing; but bring, 1. A calf; do something to farther God’s worship, or relieve the necessities of others. 2. It must be a dead calf, that is, it must proceed from humble and mortified minds. 3. A sacrificed calf: where is required, 1. An altar; our praises must be tendered in the mediation of Christ; 2. Fire; for the bare throwing out of words, though in the name of Christ, will not serve without feeling, ardency, and zeal. 3. We must lay our hands on the head of the calf; that is, in all humility, confess our unworthiness of the blessings we give thanks for, as being less than the least, Gen 32:10.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Take with you words; bethink yourselves what words will…
Take with you words; bethink yourselves what words will best set out your sins, God’s patience towards you, and your present sorrow and repentance for sin; prepare yourselves to make confessions, petitions, vows, and praises to God; and turn; with words join deeds, let your hearts be in your words, turn, do not as the incorrigible hypocrite.
To the Lord: see Hos 14:1.
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Say unto him; pray, present your petitions to him who heareth prayer: here is no mention of sheep or oxen, or any legal sacrifices; true repentance is required, which is much better, faith and hope through the great Sacrifice, in virtue of which these converts expect the grace they need and seek.
Take away all iniquity: this petition for pardon of sin includes confession of it, sorrow for it, hope that God will of mere grace forgive it, and take away the guilt, prevent the punishment, and abolish the power of sin, not of some, but of all: sincere converts seek full justification, and full sanctification. Receive us into thy protection, guidance, and benediction, graciously; and this of thy mere grace and goodness; having taken away sin, take also graciously our persons, as reconciled and well-pleasing to thee.
So will we render the calves of our lips: this will qualify and encourage us to give the sacrifices which are to God much more pleasing than an ox that hath horns and hoofs, Psa 69:31; with these calves of our lips we will give our hearts also, for those praises of the lips are fruits of what praise the heart of the convert first gives, and these here are signs of their heart given to God, that so they may be spiritual sacrifices, such as Psa 50:23, or Heb 13:15.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Take with you words, and turn to the Lord,....…
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. Kimchi's note is a very good one;
"he (that is, God) does not require of you, upon return, neither gold nor silver, nor burnt offerings, but good works; therewith confessing your sins with your whole hearts, and not with your lips only;''
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and which best agrees with evangelical repentance and Gospel times, in which ceremonial sacrifices are no more; and not any words neither; not tautologies and multiplicity of words, or words of man's prescribing, but of the Lord's directing to and dictating; the taught words of the Holy Ghost, which he suggests and helps men to, who otherwise know not how to pray, or what to pray for; and these expressed under a sense of sin, and sorrow for it, and in the strength of faith, and are as follow:
say unto him, take away all iniquity; which is to be understood, not of the taking away of the being of sin; which, though very desirable, is not to be expected in this life: nor of the expiation of sin by the sacrifice of Christ, which is done already; he has taken the sins of his people from them to himself, and has bore them, and carried them away, and removed them out of the sight of divine justice, which is satisfied for them: nor of the taking away of the power and dominion of sin; which is done by the Spirit of God, and the efficacy of his grace on the hearts of converted persons: nor of an extinguishing all sense of sin in men; for none have a quicker sense of it than pardoned sinners, or are more humble on the account of it, or more loath it; but of the taking of it away from the conscience of a sensible truly penitent sinner or backslider, by a fresh application of pardoning grace and mercy: sin is a burden, a heavy one, when the guilt of it is charged and lies upon the conscience; pardon of sin applied is a lifting up, as the word here used signifies, a taking off of this burden from it, a causing it to pass away; which is done by the fresh sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, which purges the conscience from sin, and clears it from the guilt of it, and speaks peace and comfort; and which is the blessing here prayed for, and every backslider, sensible of his case, sees he stands in need of, and even to have "all" taken away; for, if but one sin remains, and the guilt of it continues, he can have no peace, nor stand up under it; but, when God forgives sin, he forgives "all" sin;
and receive us graciously; receive into grace and favour, that is, openly and manifestly; the free love and favour of God is always the same, but the manifestations of it are different; sometimes more or less, and sometimes scarce any, if any at all, and is the ease here; and therefore a petition is made for the remembrance of it, for a renewed discovery and application of it: or accept us in a gracious manner; acceptance with God is not on account of the merits of men, but his own grace and mercy; not through any works of righteousness done by them, which are impure and imperfect; but through Christ the Beloved, in whom God is well pleased with the persons, and services, and sacrifices of his people, and receives all for his sake, and which is here asked for; as well as that he would take them into his protection, and open affection. It is, in the original text, only, "receive good" (a); meaning either their good hearts, made so by the grace of God; their broken hearts and contrite spirits, which are sacrifices not despised by him, but acceptable to him through Christ: or their good words they were bid to take, and did take, nod use; their good prayers offered up through Christ, in his name, and in the exercise of faith, which are the Lord's delight: or their good works, done from a principle of love, in faith, to the glory of God, and with which sacrifices he is well pleased: or rather, as the same word signifies, to give as well as receive; see Psa 68:18. It may be rendered, "give good" (b); take good, and give it to us, even all good things, temporal and spiritual, especially all spiritual blessings in Christ; all which good things come from God, and are his gifts; particularly the good Spirit of God, and his grace, which the Lord gives to them that ask; and all supplies of grace from Christ; and more especially, as some interpreters of note explain it, the righteousness of Christ imputed and applied; which goes along with pardoning grace, or the taking away of sin, Zac 3:4; and is the good, the better, the best robe; a gift, the gift of grace; a blessing received from the Lord, and to be asked for of him:
so will we render the calves of our lips; not calves, bullocks, and oxen, for sacrifice, as under the law; but the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving for pardoning grace, for a justifying righteousness, and for all good things: these are the fruit of the lips, as the apostle interprets it, Heb 13:15; and which are sacrifices more acceptable to God than calves of a year old, or an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs, Psa 69:30. This shows that the text and context refer to Gospel times, to the times of the Messiah; in which the Jews themselves say all sacrifices will cease but the sacrifice of praise. The Targum is,
"turn to the worship of the Lord, and say, let it he with thee to forgive sins, and may we be received as good, and the words of our lips be accepted with thee as bullocks for good pleasure upon the altar.''
(a) "accipe bonum", Pagninus, Montanus: Munster, Cocceius, Schmidt, Burkius. (b) "Acceptum confer bonum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Render - This will qualify and encourage us to…
Render - This will qualify and encourage us to give the sacrifices which are more pleasing to God than calves or oxen.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Take with you words] And you may…
Verse 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: -
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1. Hearing these merciful invitations, believe them to be true.
2. Cast aside your idols; and return to God as your Maker, King, and Saviour.
3. Take with you the words by which you have been encouraged, and plead them before God.
4. Remember your iniquity, deeply deplore it, and beg of God to take it all away.
5. Let faith be in exercise to receive what God waits to impart. "Receive us graciously;" וקח טוב vekach tob, receive, or let us receive good; when thou has emptied us of evil, fill us with goodness.
6. Be then determined, through grace, to live to his glory, "so shall we render thee the calves" (פרים parim, for which the versions in general read פרי peri, fruits, omitting the ם mem) "of our lips;" the sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, gratitude, and the hearty obedience which our lips have often promised.
7. Having thus determined, specify your resolutions to depend on God alone for all that can make you wise, useful, holy, and happy. The resolutions are: -
1. Asshur shall not save us - We will neither trust in, nor fear, this rich and powerful king. We will not look either to riches or power for true rest and peace of mind.
2. We will not ride upon horses - We shall no more fix our hopes on the proud Egyptian cavalry, to deliver us out of the hands of enemies to whom thy Divine justice has delivered us. We will expect no rest nor happiness in the elegances of life, and gratification of our senses.
3. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods - We will not trust in any thing without us; nor even in any good thing we are able to do through thy grace; knowing we have nothing but what we have received. We will trust in thy infinite mercy for our final salvation.
4. And we will do all this from the conviction, that in thee the fatherless findeth mercy; for we are all alike helpless, desolate, perishing orphans, till translated into thy family.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Take with you words - He bills them not…
Take with you words - He bills them not bring costly offerings, that they might regain His favor; not whole burnt-offerings of bullocks, goats or rams; with which, and with which alone, they had before gone to seek Him (see the note above at Hos 5:6); not the silver and gold which they had lavished on their idols; but what seems the cheapest of all, which any may have, without cost to their substance; “words;” worthless, as mere words; precious when from the heart; words of confession and prayer, blending humility, repentance, confession, entreaty and praise of God. God seems to assign to them a form, with which they should approach Him. But with these words, they were also to turn inwardly “and turn unto the Lord,” with your whole heart, and not your lips alone. “After ye shall be converted, confess before Him.”
Take away all iniquity - (Literally and pleadingly, “Thou will take away all iniquity”.) They had “fallen by their iniquities;” before they can rise again, the stumbling-blocks must be taken out of their way. They then, unable themselves to do it, must turn to God, with whom alone is power and mercy to do it, and say to Him, “Take away all iniquity,” acknowledging that they had manifold iniquities, and praying Him to forgive all, “take away all. All iniquities!” “not only then the past, but what we tear for the future. Cleanse us from the past, keep us from the future. Give us righteousness, and preserve it to the end.”
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And receive us graciously - (Literally, “and receive good” ). When God has forgiven and taken away iniquity, He has removed all hindrance to the influx of His grace. There is no vacuum in His spiritual, anymore than in His natural, creation. When God’s good Spirit is chased away, the evil spirits enter the house, which is “empty, swept, and garnished” Mat 12:44, for them. When God has forgiven and taken away man’s evil, He pours into him grace and all good. When then Israel and, in him, the penitent soul, is taught to say, “receive good,” it can mean only, the good which Thou Thyself hast given; as David says, “of Thine own we have given Thee” 1Ch 29:14. As God is said to “crown in us His own gifts;” (“His own gifts,” but “in us” ;) so these pray to God to receive from them His own good, which they had from Him. For even the good, which God giveth to be in us, He accepteth in condescension and forgiving mercy, “Who crowneth thee in mercy and lovingkindness” Psa 103:4.
They pray God to accept their service, forgiving their imperfection, and mercifully considering their frailty. For since “our righteousnesses are filthy rags,” we ought ever humbly to entreat God, not to despise our dutifulness, for the imperfections, wanderings, and negligences mingled therewith. For exceedingly imperfect is it, especially if we consider the majesty of the Divine Nature, which should be served, were it possible, with infinite reverence.” They plead to God, then, to accept what, although from Him they have it, yet through their imperfection, were, but for His goodness, unworthy of His acceptance. Still, since the glory of God is the end of all creation, by asking Him to accept it, they plead to Him, that this is the end for which He made and remade them, and placed the good in them, that it might redound to His glory. As, on the other hand, the Psalmist says, “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down into the pit” Psa 30:9, as though his own perishing were a loss to God, his Creator, since thus there were one creature the less to praise Him. : “‘Take from us all iniquity,’ leave in us no weakness, none of our former decay, lest the evil root should send forth a new growth of evil; ‘and receive good;’ for unless Thou take away our evil, we can have no good to offer Thee, according to that, ‘depart from evil, and do good.’ Psa 37:27.”
So will we render the calves of our lips - Literally, “and we would fain repay, calves, our lips;” i. e., when God shall have “forgiven us all our iniquity,” and “received” at our hands what, through His gift, we have to offer, the “good” which through His good Spirit we can do, then would we “offer” a perpetual thankoffering, “our lips.” This should be the substitute for the thank-offerings of the law. As the Psalmist says, “I will praise the Name of God with a song, and magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord, better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs” Psa 69:30-31. They are to bind themselves to perpetual thanksgiving. As the morning and evening sacrifice were continual so was their new offering to be continual. But more. The material sacrifice, “the bullock,” was offered, consumed, and passed away. Their “lips” were offered, and remained; a perpetual thank-offering, even a “living sacrifice,” living on like the mercies for which they thanked; giving forth their “endless song” for never-ending mercies.
This too looks on to the Gospel, in which, here on earth, our unending thanksgiving is beginning, in which also it was the purpose of God to restore those of Ephraim who would return to Him. : “Here we see law extinguished, the Gospel established. For we see other rites, other gifts. So then the priesthood is also changed. For three sorts of sacrifices Were of old ordained by the law, with great state. Some signified the expiation of sin; some expressed the ardor of piety; some, thanksgiving. To those ancient signs and images, the truth of the Gospel, without figure corresponds. Prayer to God, ‘to take away all iniquity,’ contains a confession of sin, and expresses our faith, that we place our whole hope of recovering our lost purity and of obtaining salvation in the mercy of Christ. ‘Receive good.’ What other good can we offer, than detestation of our past sin, with burning desire of holiness? This is the burnt-offering. Lastly, ‘we will repay the calves of our lips,’ is the promise of that solemn vow, most acceptable to God, whereby we bind ourselves to keep in continual remembrance all the benefits of God, and to render ceaseless praise to the Lord who has bestowed on us such priceless gifts. For ‘the calves of’ the ‘lips’ are orisons well-pleasing unto God. Of which David says, ‘Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings; then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.’ (Ps. 51 ult.).”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Take with you words--instead of sacrifices, namely, the words…
Take with you words--instead of sacrifices, namely, the words of penitence here put in your mouths by God. "Words," in Hebrew, mean "realities," there being the same term for "words" and "things"; so God implies, He will not accept empty professions (Psa 78:36; Isa 29:13). He does not ask costly sacrifices, but words of heartfelt penitence.
receive us graciously--literally "(for) good."
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calves of our lips--that is, instead of sacrifices of calves, which we cannot offer to Thee in exile, we present the praises of our lips. 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) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. The Israelites were all familiar with the command,…
2. The Israelites were all familiar with the command, “None shall appear before me empty” (Exo_23:15; Exo_34:20), and they brought to Jehovah manifold gifts and offerings (Hos_5:6; Amo_5:21 ff.; Isa_1:11 ff.), but for these Jehovah did not care. This Hosea had already made plain (see on Hos_6:6); now he proceeds to give instruction concerning the things which will be acceptable to Jehovah.
Words — Not meaningless phrases, but words expressing sincere repentance, such as he puts into their mouths in Hos_14:2-3.
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Take away — It is natural that the prayer should begin with a petition for forgiveness (compare Mic_7:18-19; Psa_51:9). Hebrew, “Do thou completely take away,” so that it shall be remembered no more.
Receive us graciously — R.V., “accept that which is good.” Literally, take good; which may mean either, “Take and use that which is good,” that is, thy mercy, “and receive us again into thy favor” (so A.V.), or “Do thou take (accept) from us the only good we can offer, namely, words of supplication and repentance” (so R.V.). The expression is peculiar. If the text is correct, the second is a more natural interpretation of the Hebrew, though the first would seem to give a more acceptable sense.
So will we render the calves of our lips — R.V., “So will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.” The translation of A.V. disregards Hebrew grammar. R.V., as the italics indicate, attempts to remove the difficulty by giving a paraphrase rather than a translation. The thought implied in the latter is that the Hebrews, having learned their bitter lesson, will offer no longer bullocks of the herd, which are not acceptable (Hos_6:6), but will substitute, as sacrificial animals, words of penitence and prayer (Psalm 2:16, 17; Psa_69:30-31). The expression itself is so peculiar, however, that many doubt the correctness of the text. LXX. reads, “We will render the fruit of our lips,” and this is generally accepted as the original (compare Isa_57:19). The “fruit of the lips” are the confessions, petitions, and promises of loyalty contained in Hos_14:3. The whole prayer in Hos_14:2 b may be rendered, “If thou wilt completely take away iniquity, and if thou wilt receive the (only) good (we can offer), then we will render the fruit of our lips.” Following these words Harper reads the last, clause of Hos_14:3, “For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy,” as supplying the ground for the confidence underlying the promise in the last clause of Hos_14:2. This transposition is proposed not so much because it improves the thought as because the strophic arrangement demands it.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Take with you words] It is one of…
2. Take with you words] It is one of the most undoubtedly ancient of the religious laws of the Pentateuch that ‘none shall appear before Jehovah empty’ (Exo_23:15; Exo_34:20). What gift then will be most acceptable from the Israelites to their heavenly King? The answer that will naturally rise to the lips of a half-converted Israelite will be ‘sacrifice and burnt-offering’ (see note on Hos_5:6); but the prophet in his present mood cherishes the belief that Israel’s repentance will after all not be as superficial as he once feared (contrast Hos_5:6). He therefore urges his people, after the bitter lessons of experience, to take as their offering, not cattle, but penitent words spoken out of the abundance of the heart.
Take away all iniquity] Rather, Altogether forgive Iniquity. The form of the Hebrew is singular, but not unparalleled.
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receive us graciously] Rather, accept the good; ‘for it is good to sing praises unto our God’ (Psa_147:1).
render the calves of our lips] Or, ‘pay (as if with) bullocks (with) our lips.’ Thus the Israelites are converted at last to the principle of chap. 6 Hos_14:6. It is a very strange expression, however, and Archbishop Newcome may be right in preferring the reading of the Septuagint (comp. Heb_13:15), pay the fruit of our lips, which is a choice Hebrew phrase (Isa_57:19). The ‘fruit’ is of course praise and thanksgiving, or vows of obedience (Psa_50:13-14; Psa_69:30-31).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Say unto him.—This putting of words into the…
(2) Say unto him.—This putting of words into the lips of penitents and others is found in Psa_66:3; Isa_48:20; Jer_31:7. In the latter part of the verse render, Accept of good, and we will render as calves (or sacrificial offering) our lips—i.e., the words of true repentance which we take with us shall be our offerings in place of calves. (Comp. Psa_51:17.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.
(1) Some render this clause. "Take with you i.e. forget not, neglect not, but receive with obedient spirit my words." This rendering is obviously erroneous.
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(2) The correct translation is that of the Authorized Version, and the words referred to are such as express prayer for pardon and confession of sin the audible sound of the heart"s desires. There is an allusion, perhaps, to the requirement of the Law: "None shall appear before me empty." Not outward sacrifices, but words of confession, were the offering to be presented. Thus Cyril eloquently explains it: "Ye shall propitiate the Deity, not by making offerings of riches, not by dedicating gold, not by honoring him with silver vessels, not gladdening him by sacrifices of oxen, not by slaughtering of birds; but ye shall give him discourses and wish to praise the Lord of the universe, appeasing him." To the same purport is the exposition of Aben Ezra: "He desires not from you, when ye go to seek his favor, treasures or burnt offerings, only words with which ye are to confess;" so also Kimchi: "He does not require of you on your return to him silver or gold or offering, which the Israelites lavished at great expense on their idols, but good works with which ye are to confess your iniquities." Say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. On turning to the Lord with their whole heart, not with their lips only, they are furnished with a form of sound words which God by his prophet puts into their mouth. Elsewhere a formula is prescribed, thus: "Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel"; (Jer_31:7) compare also Isa_48:20 Psa_16:3 1Ch_16:35. The position of lk before the verb creates a difficulty and causes diversity of rendering; for example,
(1) besides the ordinary rendering, which takes kol as holding its peculiar position by a hypallage, there is a modification of it: "All take away of iniquity.
(2) Some supply mem, and translate accordingly: "From all take away iniquity." Kimchi explains it as a transposition: "All iniquity forgive," and compares Eze_39:11; or, understanding le, "Forgive to every one iniquity." The object of the separation may be for greater emphasis. In like manner, the following clause is also subject to diversity of translation and interpretation. There is
(1) the rendering of the Authorized Version, which appears to supply le before tov: "Receive us for good," viz. in bonam partem, or graciously; or, "receive our prayer graciously.
(2) Another rendering or exposition is: "Take what is good (of thine own to bestow it on us);" thus in the sixty-eighth psalm at the nineteenth verse God is said to receive gifts among men, i.e. for distribution among men, and hence the apostle, in Eph_4:8, substitutes edwke for elabe , and thus expresses the sense. The literal sense
(3) is the correct sense, namely, "and receive good:" "And receive good," says Jerome, "for unless thou hadst borne away our evil things we could not possibly have any good thing to offer thee, according to that which is written, "Cease from evil and do good. Thus also the words are translated and interpreted by Pusey: "When then Israel and, in him, the penitent soul, is taught to say, receive good, it can mean only the good which thou thyself hast given; as David says, "Of thine own we have given thee;" while he adds in a note on these words, "No one would have doubted that f yq means, "receive good," as just before, yd yq means "take words," but for the seeming difficulty What good had they?" So will we render the calves of our lips. This is more accurately rendered,
(1) "So will we render young bullocks, even our lips." The word shillem, to render, or repay, is almost technical in its application to thank offer-tugs or sacrifices in fulfillment of a vow; the best animals for thank offerings were parm, or young oxen; but the lips, that is, the utterances of the lips, consisting of prayers or praises, or both, are to take the place of the animal sacrifices offered in thanksgiving. Thus the psalmist says, "I will praise the Name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
(2) The Septuagint, reading yrp instead of renders by karpolewn , to which the inspired author of Hebrews alludes, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks margin, "confessing to his Name;" or perhaps the reference in Hebrews is to Isa_57:19, "I create the fruit of the lips." Further, as words of confession in ver. 2 take the place of sacrifices of sin offerings, so here words of thanksgiving replace sacrifices of thanksgiving.
Vers. 2, 3. The supplication and the vow.
Words alone are vain. Yet, in the order of nature, words are the expression of thought and sentiment and resolve. Especially must words uttered to Heaven be sincere and truthful; for he is the Searcher of hearts, whose favor the sinner beseeches with contrition and with confidence. Let it, then, be understood that the words here suggested as suitable for the repenting sinner"s address to God are the utterance of deep emotion and sincere resolution.
I PENITENT CONFESSION. Israel acknowledges that there has been misplaced confidence. She has trusted in alliances with Assyria, in military resources, in the vain aid of the idols of the surrounding idolaters. In all this she has been her own enemy, and has been proving her own folly. The confession, which is the indispensable condition to acceptance, is here made.
II REPENTANCE AND RESOLVE. Israel not only sees the fact and feels the reproach concerning herself; she resolves upon a change a turning from human aid and an abandonment of self-confidence. Apart from this there is no hope of a safer way, a better life.
III ENTREATY FOR FORGIVENESS AND ACCEPTANCE. Israel loathes her sin, and desires that both the sin and its consequences should be removed. Israel is weary of enmity with God, and desires that there may be peace, that she may be accepted and dealt with in grace and love.
IV THE SUPPLIANT"S VOW. It has ever been characteristic of human nature to deal with the higher Power as though that power were human, and to be appeased with offerings and with promises of service. Vows have been and still are made under the influence of this superstitious belief, Yet this is no argument against such vows as that here put into the lips of Israel: "So will we render the calves of our lips." Sacrifices of obedience and of praise are just on the part of man, and are acceptable to God. None who is graciously pardoned and accepted can withhold this tribute. There have doubtless been those who, in their ignorance and unspirituality, have hoped to bribe Deity with the proffer of their praises. But none the less does it become the pardoned penitent to express his gratitude to him who is plenteous in forgiveness. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.
Hos_14:2
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.
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Turning to God in prayer
This passage teaches us how we are to come back to God. Take with you words and turn. We are to come in prayer to God. We are to come in supplication, to come and acknowledge that we have nothing, and with an entreaty that He will furnish us with that which we require. The prophet gives us the very prayer we are to offer. That must be an acceptable prayer which God Himself has indited! Here is the sum and substance of every acceptable prayer that has ever been offered to God. Two things which this prayer presents to us--
1. It teaches in what character we are to draw nigh to God; who they are that are warranted to come to the Father of mercy and God of all grace- sinners.
2. In Receive us graciously we have our Saviour presented to us. It is in Him that the grace of God is manifested. In the latter part of the text and in the succeeding verse there is presented a sort of supplement to this prayer. It contains the promises of the servant, the vows which he offers to the Most High, and which he is determined to pay. The besetting evil of the Israelites was their trusting to the neighbouring heathen nations for help, and forming associations and unions with them. We too have our besetting evils. We trust to anything rather than to God in our various emergencies and distresses. We use all the means that are placed within our power to relieve us in our distresses, but we use them without reference to God. When in repentance we turn to the Lord, then in His strength we determine to abandon our sins. (Dr. Thorpe.)
Israels petition in time of trouble
The blessing of Ephraim was fruitfulness. And throughout this prophecy the judgments of God against Ephraim are expressed by needs, emptiness, barrenness, dryness of roots, of fruits, of branches, of springs, etc.
I. An invitation to repentance. The matter of it is conversion; which must be to the Lord, and spiritual. It must be a full, thorough, constant, continued conversion, with a whole, fixed, rooted, united, and established heart. The motives to this duty are, Gods mercies and Gods judgments.
II. The institution: how to perform it.
1. A general instruction. Take unto you words, which importeth the serious pondering and choosing of requests to put up to God. He expects there should be preparation in our accesses to Him. Preparation of our persons; by purity of life. Preparation of our services; by choice of matter. Preparation of our hearts; by finding them out, and stirring them up. We must attend unto His will, as the rule of our prayers. Unto His precepts and promises, as the matter of our prayers. Unto the guidance of His Holy Spirit, as the life and principle of our prayers. There is a kind of omnipotency in prayer, as having an interest and prevalence with Gods omnipotency.
2. A particular form. A prayer for two benefits: the removal of sin, the conferring of good. A promise of two things. Thanksgiving, and a special care for the amendment of their lives. Observe especially the ground of their confidence so to pray, and of their resolutions so to promise. Because in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy. (Edward Reynolds.)
Israel exhorted to return unto the Lord
I. An awful fact stated. Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Israel had--
1. Fallen from their allegiance to God.
2. Fallen from His worship.
3. Fallen from the enjoyment of His favour.
II. An affectionate exhortation urged. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. Observe--
1. The persons addressed. Israel.
2. The nature of the address. Return.
3. The object to whom they were to return. The Lord thy God.
III. Instructive direction administered. Take with you words. Words of sincerity. Appropriate words. Words of humble confession. Words of petition. Take away all iniquity--
1. From our affections, that we may no longer love it.
2. From our consciences, that we may no longer labour under the burden of it.
3. From our lives, that it may no longer have dominion over us.
4. From our hearts, that we may be dead to it. Receive us graciously. Receive our prayers. Receive our persons. Receive us into Thy favour.
IV. Returns of gratitude expressed. Render calves of our lips.
1. Gratitude is a debt which all owe to, God.
2. Gratitude is a debt which gracious souls are ready to pay. Learn--
(1) That neither our civil nor religious privileges will preclude the possibility of falling by iniquity.
(2) That those who have fallen by iniquity should be induced to return to the Lord their God.
(3) Those whose iniquity is taken away should bless the Lord. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The need for expression is words
What need God words? He knows our hearts before we speak unto Him. God needs no words, but we do, to stir up our hearts and our affections. Our words must not be empty, but such as are joined with a purpose of turning to God. To turn to Him with a purpose to live in any sin is the extremity of profane impudence. The petition is, Take away all iniquity. Because where there is any true good ness in the heart, that hatred which carries the bent of the soul against one sin is alike against all. Because the heart which desires to be at peace with God desires also to be like God, who hates all sin. Take away all sin; both the guilt and the reign of every sin, that none may rule in me. Forgive the sin, and overcome the power of it by sanctifying grace, and remit the judgments attending it. They pray for the taking away of their iniquity; for take away this and all other mercies follow after; because this alone stops the current of Gods favours, which removed, the current of His mercies run amain. Many say, How shall I know whether or no my sins are forgiven? You may know by something that goes before, and by something which follows after. Before, a humble and hearty confession. After, when a man finds strength against it; for where God forgives He gives strength withal. Another evidence is some peace of conscience, though not much perhaps, yet so much as supports us from despair. Again, where sin is pardoned our hearts will be much enlarged with love to God. And forgiveness frames the soul suitably to be gentle and merciful, and to pardon others. Therefore let us labour for the forgiveness of our sins, that God would remove and subdue the power of them, take them away, and the judgments due to them, or else we are but miserable, though we enjoyed all the pleasures of the world. Receive us graciously, and do good to us. So it is in the original. All the goodness we have from God, it is out of His grace. Gods mercy to His children is complete and full. God not only takes away ill, but He doth good. We cannot honour God more than by making use of His mercy in the forgiveness of sins; and of His goodness, in going to Him for it. The prayer is an acknowledgment of our own emptiness. The best that we can bring to thee is emptiness, therefore do Thou do good to us, fill us with Thy fulness. Do good to us every way. So shall we render the calves of our lips. Here is the re-stipulation or promise. They return back to God. There should be a rendering according to the receiving. This promise of praise is a kind of vow. So will we render. To bind ones self is a kind of vow. The Church therefore binds herself that she may bind God. It is good thus to vow, if it were but to excite and quicken our dulness and forgetfulness of our general vow; to put us in mind of our duty, the more to oblige us to God, and refresh our memories. The calves of our lips implies not only thankfulness to God, but glorifying of God, in setting out His praise. In glorifying there are two things, a supposition of excellency, and the manifestation of this glory. The yielding of praise to God is a wondrous acceptable sacrifice. Besides this the calves of our lips carries us to work. The oral thanksgiving must be justified by our works and deeds; or else our actions will give our tongue the lie. Why doth the prophet especially mention lips, or words? Because--
1. Christ, who is the Word, delights in our words.
2. Because our tongue is our glory, and that by which we glorify God.
3. Our tongue is that which excites others. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
A form of prayer for backsliders
It pleased the Lord to draw up for them a form of prayer, which He puts into their mouths, and with which He sends them, that they might present themselves before Him at His throne and mercy-seat, and there repeat it.
I. The connection of these words with the former, Israel is fallen by her iniquity. -What is requisite in this case? Most assuredly, a return to the Lord. But Israel might say, I know not how to return. To prevent despairing thoughts the Lord gives suitable words for those who would return but hardly know how to do so. The words are cogent and most particular, and exactly suited unto and expressive of the grace which those persons stood in need of.
II. Open and explain the expressions made use of in this prayer. They contain for substance the whole grace and gracious design of the everlasting Gospel. If all iniquity were not taken away there could be no expectation of being received graciously, therefore the order, propriety, and connection of these words, with the vast subject and importance of them.
III. The suitableness of them to such as are in a state of backsliding, or are on the verge of the same. There is a continual change, a flux and reflux, in the frames, temper, cases, and feelings of the people of God. None are safe, one single moment, but as they are kept by the power of God.
IV. The most grateful acknowledgments of these suppliants. We will render the calves of our lips. When the Lord is pleased to overcome our minds by the manifestations of His pardoning mercy, we cannot but open our mouth, and with our lips shew forth His glorious praise. (Samuel Eyles Pierce.)
The prophets call to repentance
We are furnished in this chapter with a most vivid picture of Gods unchangeable love towards His people. No sooner are the children of Israel brought to a sense of their helpless wretchedness, and led to betake themselves to the footstool of their God, to ask for pardon and mercy, than they obtain grace, and find help in the time of need. They no sooner assay to go to Him than He anticipates them; binds up their broken hearts, pours the balm of consolation into their wounded spirits.
I. The prophets call to repentance. This is pathetic to a degree. O Israel! What boundless instances of unspeakable love does this single expression imply! In Me is thy help. Return, only return, and it shall be well with you again. You must have learnt, long ere this, the hopelessness of the prodigal, without a fathers love and protecting care. But let that return be a sincere, earnest, and permanent return. Let it be a truthful and spiritual return. Only genuine repentance can do us any effectual good. The wording of the call suggests that the prophets appeal is dictated by mercy and judgment, Mercy. Return unto the Lord thy God. Jehovah is still thy God, and not yet thy Judge, still gracious and merciful, long-suffering, of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. It is by the attribute of mercy that God first appeals to His covenant people to return to Him. What a glorious motive for repentance! The Lord Jehovah is still ready and willing to be your God, in order to smooth the way for your return to Him. Judgment. For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity, and art therefore amenable to the just punishment which is the portion of all those who transgress Gods law. If mercies do not work upon your love, let judgment work upon your fear.
II. The nature of genuine repentance. Take with you words, etc. The penitent is not left., to frame words according to his own fancy or imagination, but the Holy Sprat actually puts words into the sinners mouth. We must also be prepared personally, we must endeavour to begin a pure and holy life. It was for lack of a personal preparation that Israels prayer was rejected. It is also necessary to endeavour to be possessed of such a state of mind as to entitle the suppliant to the benefits of paternal compassion. We need preparation of the heart. This fourfold preparation must be obtained from Him alone who is almighty. Of ourselves we can do nothing. From the simple expression, Take with you words, we learn--
1. That Gods will must be our rule in prayer, for it is under such circumstances only that we need expect our supplications to be accepted.
2. That Gods precepts and promises must be the subject-matter of our prayer. We are too short-sighted to know what is good for us, or what God in His inscrutable dispensations has appointed for us.
3. That the help of the Holy Spirit must be the life and principle of our prayer. The Spirit who now abides with us must be our teacher in all things, and bring all things to our remembrance. He will teach us what is the will of God. Observe now the sound form dictated for the use of the penitents, when really and truly returning unto the Lord their God. Take away all iniquity, etc. In this passage there is a petition and a promise. The petition is subdivided into two distinct requests, an entreaty for the pardon of sin, and a solicitation for granting unmerited favours. The promise consists of thanksgiving. So will we render the calves of our lips; and of amendment of life. Asshur shall not save us, etc. The text concludes with a reason for the petition and promise. For in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Note that repentance cannot exist without thanksgiving, nor can sincere thanksgiving be found in an individual not truly penitent. Asshur shall not save us, means, we give up all human succour. Genuine repentance takes the heart from all carnal confidence. Many are the gods and lords which the unconverted create for themselves. Men of power deify strength. Men of wisdom deify knowledge and prudence. Men of morality and virtue deify their good works. (Moses Margoliouth.)
How to return to God
God not only invites us to return, but He tells us how to do it. He puts the very words in our mouth. The first act of the awakened is usually an act of prayer. The very act of expressing our need has a tendency both to bring about clearer views of what it is that we need, and to intensify our desire. A true conversion involves, above everything else, personal transactions between the penitent, on the one hand, and his wronged and injured God on the other. Now the very act of prayer tends to bring to the front and impress upon our consciousness this personal aspect of the case. It is, however, of the utmost importance that the awakened soul should abstain from anything that might be called making a prayer. I would to God that men were more simple and definite in their prayers. God knows our needs before we utter them. But do we know them? Indefinite notions as to what we require at the hands of God must paralyse our faith and rob our approach of all reality. Notice the urgency of the prayer which Gods love puts into the mouth of the penitent. It is also the expression of a distinct change in our moral attitude towards God. It seems asking a great deal to say, Take away all iniquity. Can it all be taken away? (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
Israel exhorted to return unto the Lord
I. An awful fact stated. Thou hast fallen, etc. The term fall is used literally, when we speak of a body descending from a higher to a lower situation. When the fall of angels or of men is mentioned, we understand the term figuratively. Thus Israel had--
1. Fallen from their allegiance to God.
2. Fallen from His worship.
3. Fallen from the enjoyment of His favour.
II. An affectionate exhortation urged. Return unto the Lord. Observe--
1. The persons addressed. Israel. No reproachful name is used.
2. The nature of the address. Return. This implies previous wandering.
3. To whom they were to return. The Lord thy God.
III. Instructive direction administered. Take with you words. Not bullocks or sacrifices. Words of sincerity. Appropriate words. Words of confession. Words of petition. They were to pray for the removal of iniquity.
1. Take it away from our affections, that we may no longer love it.
2. From our consciences, that we may no longer labour under the burden of it.
3. From our lives, that it may not have dominion over us.
4. From our hearts, that we may be dead to it. Receive our prayers graciously. Receive our persons graciously.
IV. Returns of gratitude expressed. So will we render the calves of our lips. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
The iniquity of the people
The Gospel itself has gone no further than the elements which constitute this closing chapter. The nation is addressed in its unity. Return unto the Lord. Come back; do not any longer pursue the way of folly and the path of darkness; turn round; be converted, be healed, come home. That is an evangelical cry, that is the very passion and the very meaning of the Cross of Christ. For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Man is not called to come down, but to come up. Thou hast fallen fiat upon the earth. This is a call from a fall. The fall is not to be argued into a man; the fall is an experience which must be confirmed by the consciousness of the heart itself. The experience of the heart about this matter of the fall is a varied, conflicting, tumultuous experience. Take with you words. When men are in earnest their words are themselves. Leave all ritualism, and take with you yourselves speech of the heart, prayer of the soul, cry of the felt necessity. Take away all iniquity. Here is confession, Receive us graciously. Here is petition. So will we render the calves of our lips. Our sacrifice shall be a living sacrifice. But can Israel so pray and so promise, and then repeat yesterday as if nothing had occurred in the night-time of penitence? Israel must be complete in confession, and complete in renunciation. A man must at some point say good-bye to his ruined self. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Now we come upon words never excelled by John or by Paul for sweep of thought and tenderness of pathos. I will love them freely, literally, I am impelled to love them. When God sees the returning prodigal, He sees more than the sin--He sees the sinner within the man, the man within the sinner, the God within the man. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The penitent returning to God
Not only is the obligation to repent universal, the main features of real repentance are invariably the same. It is the like corruption of heart and practice over which the contrite sinner of every age and country has to mourn; it is the same mercy-seat he has to approach; it is the same God to whom he has to be reconciled.
I. As to the general circumstances of mankind. The expression, Thou hast fallen, applies primarily and directly to the case of the Jews. They had fallen in every sense of the word. Their vices had been their ruin; their city was destroyed, their temple consumed, and they themselves were captives in a strange land. The work of devastation had reached their minds as well as their bodies. Many of them clung still to their sins and idolatries. Consider, more generally--
1. The state of degradation to which man has fallen. How often have we, in contemplating our own hearts, or the conduct of others, to blush for the creature who was originally formed in the image of his God.
2. The state of corruption and depravity into which human nature has fallen. It is quite possible to overstate the limits of this corruption. But we may say that spiritual qualities are absolutely extinct in the unconverted mind.
3. The state of suffering to which we have fallen. Some compare the world to a vast hospital, and others to a huge prison.
4. The state of danger and condemnation to which we are fallen. Look at the strong bias of the heart to evil--at the snares of the world, and the temptations of the devil.
II. The duty of man under such circumstances. Our Heavenly Father has been pleased to give us, in our guilty and lost circumstances, certain express directions for returning to the God from whom we have fallen. In our text the injunction is--
1. That we should turn to the Lord. With the help of the Spirit, and by a strong effort on your own part, you should set your face heavenwards.
2. Take with you words, and say unto God, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. Feel that your first business and object, in the presence of the Lord, is to seek by earnest and devout supplication, a release from guilt, and wrath, and punishment. This release and pardon you are to seek, not on the ground of any merits of your own, but from the free and unmerited love of God.
3. You are to say unto God, We will render the calves of our lips. Or as the apostle puts it, The fruit of our lips giving praise to Him. The feelings of heartfelt gratitude and praise are to accompany prayer.
4. We are to renounce all dependence upon and all allegiance to other masters. Our sincerity will be testified by an abandonment of the paths of sin. A change in the direction of our affections and our services will uniformly follow real conversion.
III. The encouragement suggested by the text for thus turning to god. It is stated in those simple but beautiful words, For in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Apply to the despondent; to the believer; to the contrite sinner. (J. W. Cunningham.)
An exhortation to repentance
I. These verses in their primary reference to israel.
1. The prophet calls upon the people to return unto the Lord their God. He was their God in an especial manner. He had never been wanting to them while they owned and served Him as the Lord their God. He directs them in what manner and with what spirit they should return. They were to take with them words, and make their petition to this effect, that God would be pleased to take away all iniquity. To take away the guilt of it, and grant them His gracious pardon: to take away the power of it, and grant them His effectual grace to resist and subdue it. They were to pray that God would receive them graciously, graciously implying that merit was not to be pleaded in any degree by the petitioners. They were to promise the tribute of their lips, grateful language flowing from a grateful heart. In returning to the Lord the people were further to express their renunciation of all former and false confidences. And they were frankly to acknowledge that Jehovah alone was the effectual succour of the helpless and destitute.
II. Consider these verses as of more general extent in their application. Kingdoms and nations may fall by their iniquity.
1. There is a cad to wandering sinners to return unto the Lord their God. A door of hope is left open for them.
2. God uses inducements. He assures the sinner that he has fallen by his iniquity. Every sinner is fallen from that state of happiness and holiness in which God originally created man.
3. You are to take words and pray. The removal of sin must take place in order to our restoration. If the guilt of it is not taken away by pardoning grace, the wrath of God must abide on us. If the power of it is not broken, and the love of it subdued in the soul, it must exclude us from the holy and happy society of God and glorified spirits above.
4. You are to entreat that God would receive you graciously: take you into His favour, and admit you into His family.
5. Such surprising grace will demand the most fervent affections of your hearts, and the most devoted and obedient submission of your lives.
6. You are to approach the throne of grace with a solemn and deliberate disavowal of all forbidden dependencies, and an acknowledgment that the God of grace is the only helper of helpless sinners. Glorify God by acknowledging the freeness and fulness of His grace, and by accepting the blessed and complete deliverance offered to you in the Gospel. (S. Knight, M. A.)
Total repentance
The prophet entreats them not only to turn back, and look toward the Lord with a partial and imperfect repentance, but not to leave off till they were come quite home to Him by a total and sincere repentance and amendment. He bids them return quite to Himself, the unchangeable God and their God. Great is repentance, is a Jewish saying, which maketh men to reach quite up to the throne of glory. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Repentance or reformation
I. Its nature and method indicated.
1. Its nature. O Israel, return unto the Lord your God. The description contained in the first and third verses of this reformation implies three things--
(1) That the soul is away from God.
(2) The renunciation of all dependence upon creatures. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses. This means, we will not trust to Asshur--that is, Assyria--for help.
(3) Utter abandonment of all idols. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods. For in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
2. Its method. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. Why take words to God?
(1) Not because words can inform Him of anything of which He is ignorant.
(2) Not because words can induce Him to be more kind to us than He is. Then will we offer the calves of our lips. And before Him pray. Pray for two things--
(a) His forgiveness. Take away all sin.
(b) His acceptance. Receive us graciously.
II. Its cause and blessedness specified.
1. Its cause--God. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. I will be as the dew. I will act upon the soul silently, penetratingly, revivifyingly--as the dew. All true reformation brings with it Gods silent but effective agency.
2. Its blessedness.
(1) Health. I will heal their backsliding. The soul is diseased. God is its great Physician.
(2) Divine favour. I will love them freely, for Mine anger is turned away from them.
(3) Growth. He shall grow as the lily.
(a) The growth is connected with beauty. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like it.
(b) Its growth is connected with strength. Cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
(c) Its growth is connected with expansiveness. His branches shall spread. How a Divinely formed soul expands. Its sympathies become world wide.
(d) Its growth is connected with fragrance. His beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. How delectable the fragrance of a holy life!
(e) Its growth is connected with social usefulness. It shall offer protection to men. They that dwell under his shadow shall return. Not only protection, but beneficent progress: They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine. (Homilist.)
So will we render the calves of our lips.
By taking with us words, in speech or in sacred song, we can render to God the calves, i.e., the sacrifice of our lips. There is--
I. A sacrifice of silence. It is a great thing to know how to serve our Lord and our neighbour by keeping our lips closed. To be silent when we are tempted to speak, but when the closed mouth is wiser and kinder than the uttered word.
II. The sacrifice of truthfulness. We are bound to truthfulness by the express commandment of God, and by the claims of our fellow-men. We render this sacrifice, not merely by refusing to stoop to downright, deliberate falsehood, but by avoiding the utterance which is fitted to convey a false impression; by avoiding the evil and pernicious habit of exaggeration and caricature. Others should be able to trust our word absolutely.
III. The sacrifice of praise. We can hardly conceive of Divine service without the element of praise, and this is the best and truest Christian form of the sacrifice of the lips. Unitedly, intelligently, heartily, spiritually should we render this most pleasant, most acceptable sacrifice.
IV. The sacrifice of prayer. By utterance of our thought we help ourselves to pray; for expression kindles, sustains, directs devotion. And by uttering our thought we help others to pray.
V. The sacrifice of humility and confession. Humility is the gateway that opens into the kingdom of Christ. When with deep and true penitence of spirit we take with us words, we offer an acceptable sacrifice, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
VI. The sacrifice of helpfulness. By the timely, thoughtful, helpful word, we may render service to man and sacrifice to God.
1. The word of warning.
2. The word of comfort.
3. The word of encouragement.
4. The word of challenge. Thus by timely and helpful words shall we render the calves of our lips. (Sunday in Church.)
A living sacrifice
Our sacrifice shall be a living sacrifice; we have nothing to slay; we will live unto the Lord. The lips here stand for life; the calves must be regarded as representing symbolically the old sacrifice in a new form,--not the unintelligent and irresponsive calves of the meadow, but the calves of our lips, the living sacrifice, the personal offering. What a prayer, thus modelled and outlined! Here is confession, here is hope, here is poetry, here is consecration, here is communion with God: yet is there no bargain-making. Man is not inviting God to enter into a covenant in which there shall be so much for so much. Forgive us, and we will obey. Pardon us, and reckon then upon our worship;--the worship does not come as payment, but as a necessity of nature; it will be the utterance of gratitude; it represents the irrepressible music of spiritual thanksgiving. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain LIKE the Book of Amos, the Book of Hosea,…
"I WILL BE AS THE DEW"
Hos_14:2-10
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LIKE the Book of Amos, the Book of Hosea, after proclaiming the peoples inevitable doom, turns to a blessed prospect of their restoration to favor with God. It will be remembered that we decided against the authenticity of such an epilogue in the Book of Amos; and it may now be asked, how can we come to any other conclusion with regard to the similar peroration in the Book of Hosea? For the following reasons.
We decided against the genuineness of the closing verses of Amos because their sanguine temper is opposed to the temper of the whole of the rest of the book, and because they neither propose any ethical conditions for the attainment of the blessed future, nor in their picture of the latter do they emphasize one single trace of the justice, or the purity, or the social kindliness, on which Amos has so exclusively insisted as the ideal relations of Israel to Jehovah. It seemed impossible to us that Amos could imagine the perfect restoration of his people in the terms only of re-quickened nature, and say nothing about righteousness, truth, and mercy towards the poor. The prospect which now closes his book is psychologically alien to him, and, being painted in the terms of later prophecy, may be judged to have been added by some prophet of the Exile, speaking from the standpoint, and with the legitimate desires, of his own day. But the case is very different for this epilogue in Hosea. In the first place, Hosea has not only continually preached repentance, and been, from his whole affectionate temper of mind, unable to believe repentance impossible; but he has actually predicted the restoration of his people upon certain well-defined and ethical conditions. In chapter 2 he has drawn for us in detail the whole prospect of Gods successful treatment of his erring spouse. Israel should be weaned from their sensuousness and its accompanying trust in idols by a severe discipline, which the prophet describes in terms of their ancient wanderings in the wilderness. They should be reduced as at the beginning of their history, to moral converse with their God; and abjuring the Baalim (later chapters imply also their foreign allies and foolish kings and princes) should return to Jehovah, when He, having proved that these could not give them the fruits of the land they sought after, should Himself quicken the whole course of nature to bless them with the fertility of the soil and the friendliness even of the wild beasts. Now in the epilogue and its prospect of Israels repentance we find no feature, physical or moral, which has not already been furnished by these previous promises of the book. All their ethical conditions are provided; nothing but what they have conceived of blessing is again conceived. Israel is to abjure senseless sacrifice and come to Jehovah with rational and contrite confession. {Cf. Hos_6:6} She is to abjure her foreign alliances. {Cf. Hos_12:2} She is to trust in the fatherly love of her God. {Cf. Hos_1:7} He is to heal her, {Cf. Hos_11:4} and His anger is to turn away. {Cf. Hos_11:8-9} He is to restore nature, just as described in chapter 2 and the scenery of the restoration is borrowed from Hoseas own Galilee. There is, in short, no phrase or allusion of which we can say that it is alien to the prophets style or environment, while the very keynotes of his book -"return," "backsliding," "idols the work of our hands," "such pity as a father hath," and perhaps even the "answer" or "converse" of Hos_14:9 -are all struck once more. The epilogue then is absolutely different from the epilogue to the Book of Amos, nor can the present expositor conceive of the possibility of a stronger case for the genuineness of any passage of Scripture. The sole difficulty seems to be the place in which we find it-a place where its contradiction to the immediately preceding sentence of doom is brought out into relief. We need not suppose, however, that it was uttered by Hosea in immediate proximity to the latter, nor even that it formed his last word to Israel. But granting only (as the above evidence obliges us to do) that it is the prophets own, this fourteenth chapter may have been a discourse addressed by him at one of those many points when, as we know, he had some hope of the peoples return. Personally, I should think it extremely likely that Hoseas ministry closed with that final, hopeless proclamation in chapter 13; no other conclusion was possible so near the fall of Samaria and the absolute destruction of the Northern Kingdom. But Hosea had already in chapter 2 painted the very opposite issue as a possible ideal for his people; and during some break in those years when their insincerity was less obtrusive, and the final doom still uncertain, the prophets heart swung to its natural pole in the exhaustless and steadfast love of God, and he uttered his unmingled gospel. That either himself or the unknown editor of his prophecies should have placed it at the very end of his book is not less than what we might have expected. For if the book were to have validity beyond the circumstances of its origin, beyond the judgment which was so near and so inevitable, was it not right to let something else than the proclamation of this latter be its last word to men? was it not right to put as the conclusion of the whole matter the ideal eternity valid for Israel-the gospel which is ever Gods last word to His people?
At some point or other, then, in the course of his ministry, there was granted to Hosea an open vision like to the vision which he has recounted in the second chapter. He called on the people to repent. For once, and in the power of that Love to which he had already said all things are possible, it seemed to him as if repentance came. The tangle and intrigue of his generation fell away; fell away the reeking sacrifices and the vain show of worship. The people turned from their idols and puppet-kings, from Assyria and from Egypt, and with contrite hearts came to God Himself, who, healing and loving, opened to them wide the gates of the future. It is not strange that down this spiritual vista the prophet should see the same scenery as daily filled his bodily vision. Throughout Galilee Lebanon dominates the landscape. You cannot lift your eyes from any spot of Northern Israel without resting them upon the vast mountain. From the unhealthy jungles of the Upper Jordan, the pilgrim lifts his heart to the cool hill air above, to the ever-green cedars and firs, to the streams and waterfalls that drop like silver chains off the great breastplate of snow. From Esdraelon and every plain the peasants look to Lebanon to store the clouds and scatter the rain; it is not from heaven but from Hermon that they expect the dew, their only hope in the long drought of summer across Galilee and in Northern Ephraim, across Bashan and in Northern Gilead, across Hauran and on the borders of the desert, the mountain casts its spell of power, its lavish promise of life. Lebanon is everywhere the summit of the land, and there are points from which it is as dominant as heaven.
No wonder then that our northern prophet painted the blessed future in the poetry of the mountain-its air, its dew, and its trees. Other seers were to behold, in the same latter days, the mountain of the Lord above the tops of the mountains; the ordered cite, her steadfast walls salvation, and her open gates praise; the wealth of the Gentiles flowing into her, profusion of flocks for sacrifice, profusion of pilgrims; the great Temple and its solemn services; and "the glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, fir-tree and pine and box-tree together, to beautify the place of My Sanctuary." {Isa_60:13} But, with his home in the north, and weary of sacrifice and ritual, weary of everything artificial, whether it were idols or puppet-kings, Hosea turns to the "glory of Lebanon" as it lies, untouched by human tool or art, fresh and full of peace from Gods own hand. Like that other seer of Galilee, Hosea in his vision of the future "saw no temple therein." {Rev_21:22} His sacraments are the open air, the mountain breeze, the dew, the vine, the lilies, the pines; and what God asks of men are not rites nor sacrifices, but life and health, fragrance and fruitfulness, beneath the shadow and the Dew of His Presence.
"Return, O Israel, to Jehovah thy God, for thou" hast stumbled by thine iniquity. Take with you words and return unto Jehovah. Say unto Him, Remove iniquity altogether, and take good, so will we render" the calves of our lips"; confessions, vows, these are the sacrificial offerings God delights in. Which vows are now registered:-
"Asshur shall not save us;
We shall not ride upon horses (from Egypt)
And we will say no more, "O our God," to the work of our hands:
For in Thee the fatherless findeth a fathers pity."
Alien help, whether in the protection of Assyria or the cavalry which Pharaoh sends in return for Israels homage; alien gods, whose idols we have ourselves made, -we abjure them all, for we remember how Thou didst promise to show a fathers love to the people whom Thou didst name, for their mothers sins, Lo-Ruhamah, the Unfathered. Then God replies:-
"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: For Mine anger is turned away from them. I will be as the dew unto Israel: He shall blossom as the lily, And strike his roots deep as Lebanon: His branches shall spread, And his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, And his smell as Lebanon- smell of clear mountain air with the scent of the pines upon it. The figure in the end of Hos_14:6 seems forced to some critics, who have proposed various emendations, such as "like the fast-rooted trees of Lebanon," but any one who has seen how the mountain himself rises from great roots, cast out across the land like those of some giant oak, will not feel it necessary to mitigate the metaphor."
The prophet now speaks:-
"They shall return and dwell in His shadow.
They shall live well-watered as a garden,
Till they flourish like the vine,
And be fragrant like the wine of Lebanon."
God speaks:-
"Ephraim, what has he to do any more with idols!
I have spoken for him, and I will look after him.
I am like an evergreen fir;
From Me is thy fruit found."
This version is not without its difficulties; but the alternative that God is addressed and Ephraim is the speaker-"Ephraim" says," What have I to do any more with idols? I answer and look to Him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is Thy fruit found"-has even greater difficulties, although it avoids the unusual comparison of the Deity with a tree The difficulties of both interpretations may be overcome by dividing the verse between God and the people:-
"Ephraim! what has he to do any more with idols:
I have spoken far him, and will look after him."
In this case the speaking would be intended in the same sense as the speaking in chapter 2. to the heavens and earth, that they might speak to the corn and wine. Then Ephraim replies:-
"I am like an ever-green fir-tree;
From me is Thy fruit found."
But the division appears artificial, and the text does not suggest that the two Is belong to different speakers. The first version therefore is the preferable.
Some one has added a summons to later generations to lay this book to heart in face of their own problems and sins. May we do so for ourselves.
"Who is wise, that he understands these things?
Intelligent, that he knows them?
Yea straight are the ways of Jehovah,
And the righteous shall walk therein, but sinners shall stumble upon them."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:2-3 Hosea composed a model prayer of confession to…
14:2-3 Hosea composed a model prayer of confession to help his people return to the Lord. God’s prophets not only identified with God in his outrage over Israel’s rebellion; they also identified with the people in their broken condition (see also Dan 9:4-19). • Forgive all our sins: The Israelites should throw themselves upon God’s mercy and grace, freely acknowledging their many sins. • so that we may offer you our praises: Israel’s inclination was to offer animal sacrifices for sin, but the Lord had made it clear that sacrifices were not the solution (see Hos 6:6). Israel should offer God genuine repentance.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.