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The Lord Warns Israel About Idols

“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

A 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

  1. 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.
  2. Hosea 14:9 Good … die by them Literally, “Good people will walk on them. Sinners will stumble on them.”

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