Hosea — Chapter 14

Convertere Israel ad Dominum Deum tuum

'Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God.' À Lapide identifies the prescribed words of penitential prayer (v.3-4) as a model for the Church's liturgical confession. The phrase 'take away all iniquity and receive the good' encapsulates the theology of justification: God takes what is ours (sin) and gives what is His (grace). He cites Trent Session VI on the nature of justifying grace.

Ero quasi ros Israel

'I will be as the dew to Israel.' The dew images—lily, cedar of Lebanon, olive tree—figure the gifts of the Holy Spirit poured out in the messianic age. À Lapide follows the Fathers in reading the lily as purity, the cedar as incorruptibility, and the olive as the anointing of the Spirit. The whole passage is applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the first and perfect fruit of redemption.

Quis sapiens et intelliget haec

'Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?' À Lapide concludes that the true interpreter of prophecy is the soul illumined by the Holy Spirit and submissive to the Church's Magisterium. He warns against the private interpretation of Scripture that produces heresy, citing 2 Peter 1:20. The final verse is both an invitation and a challenge: prophecy rewards only those who approach it with humility and prayer.