The Sacrifice of Words (Hosea 14:2 or 3 in some versions)
Just working again through the prophet Hosea and his inspired words for God’s people who had gone astray. “Take with you words and return to the LORD.” This simple command lies at the heart of Hosea’s final appeal to Israel. The prophet doesn’t call for expensive offerings or dramatic rituals but instead calls on the people to come back to God with something that you can only bring when you know you really have nothing to offer- words.
In a culture of broken promises (covenants), idolatrous worship, and culturally sanctioned selfishness, the call to return with words emphasizes that genuine repentance begins not in outward performance but in truth-telling. The exile for Israel wasn’t just geographical—it was relational (and we will all understand this experientially sooner or later). Israel had strayed from communion with Yahweh, and now they are told: your words can be the beginning of renewal.
The line that follows—“we will repay with bulls the vows of our lips”—has long invited both literal and metaphorical readings. The Hebrew phrase is intentionally ambiguous (that drives us modern thinkers crazy, but it’s how He communicates with us:). It could mean offering literal bulls in renewed sacrifice, but more likely, it poetically equates spoken confession with sacrificial offering. The Septuagint (Greek OT) renders this as “the fruit of our lips,” and the New Testament echoes it in Hebrews 13:15. In this view, Hosea is not discarding sacrifice, but recasting it: the words of humble repentance, the naming of sin and longing for restoration, become the truest form of worship. In a prophetic tradition that constantly critiques hollow ritual, this verse draws worship back to its relational foundation.
This passage is a reminder for us today that God is not moved by empty gestures but by the posture of our hearts expressed through honest speech. Imagine what a group of people who choose to live this way could do!!!! When shame or guilt tempts us to hide, Hosea invites us to return with words. Not perfect words. Not religious words. Just truthful, honest ones. Let’s start there: with words that acknowledge our need, ask for healing, and recommit to trust. In the gospel, we find this pattern fulfilled: it is with the heart one believes and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation (Romans 10:10). The bulls of our lips are not blood on an altar, but the fruit of prayers offered in trust—the worship God has always desired.
“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.’”
Psalm 40:6-8
Shalom
Christ Tribe 