Teks -- Hosea 14:2 (NET)

14:2 Return to the Lord and repent! Say to him: “Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Hos 14:2 - Render

This will qualify and encourage us to give the sacrifices which are more pleasing to God than calves or oxen.

JFB: Hos 14:2 - 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.

JFB: Hos 14:2 - receive us graciously

Literally "(for) good."

JFB: Hos 14:2 - 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.

Clarke: Hos 14:2 - Take with you words

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: -

1.    Hearing these merciful invitations, believe them to be true

2.    Cast aside your idols; and return to God as your Maker, King, and Savior

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.

Calvin: Hos 14:2 - NO PHRASE

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,

‘This people draw nigh me with their lips,
but their heart is from me far distant,’ (Isa 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.

TSK: Hos 14:2 - away // receive // the calves

with, Job 34:31, Job 34:32; Joe 2:17; Mat 6:9-13; Luk 11:2-4, Luk 18:13

away : 2Sa 12:13, 2Sa 24:10; Job 7:21; Psa 51:2-10; Isa 6:7; Eze 36:25, Eze 36:26; Mic 7:19; Zec 3:4; Joh 1:29; Rom 11:27; Tit 2:14; Heb 10:4; 1Jo 1:7, 1Jo 3:5

receive : etc. or, give good, Mat 7:11; Luk 11:13, Luk 15:21-24; Eph 1:6, Eph 1:7, Eph 2:7, Eph 2:8; 2Ti 1:9

the calves : Psa 69:30,Psa 69:31; Heb 13:15; 1Pe 2:5, 1Pe 2:9

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Hos 14:2 - Take with you words // To the Lord // Say unto him // Take away all iniquity // So will we render the calves of our lips

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 .

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 .

Gill: 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

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;''

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, Zec 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.''