Hosea 14:8-9

Easy-to-Read Version

The Lord Warns Israel About Idols

⁸“Ephraim, I will have nothing more to do with idols.
I am the one who answers your prayers and watches over you.^[a]
I am like a fir tree that is always green.
Your fruit comes from me.”

Final Advice

⁹A wise person understands these things,
    and a smart person should learn them.
The Lord’s ways are right.
    Good people will live by them.
    Sinners will die by them.^[b]

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Footnotes

Hosea 14:8 and watches over you This is a wordplay. The Hebrew word is like the name “Assyria.” God is saying that he, not some foreign country, protects Israel.
Hosea 14:9 Good … die by them Literally, “Good people will walk on them. Sinners will stumble on them.”