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Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
Hosea 14:6 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
  • KJV His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
  • BSB His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
  • NKJV His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon.
  • NASB His shoots will sprout, His majesty will be like the olive tree, And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Restored Israel will spread out in beauty like the olive tree with the fragrance of Lebanon. It continues the picture of vibrant, God-given flourishing.

Overview

The olive tree symbolizes lasting fruitfulness and blessing, while Lebanon's fragrance evokes loveliness and abundance. These images portray a people made beautiful and useful again through God's healing love. The renewal promised here looks ahead to the flourishing of God's redeemed people, made fruitful by his grace.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Ps 52:8But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house. I trust in God’s loving kindness forever and ever.
  • Phil 4:18But I have all things, and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.
  • Ps 128:3Your wife will be as a fruitful vine, in the innermost parts of your house; your children like olive plants, around your table.
  • Ezek 31:3–10Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.
  • Dan 4:10–15Thus were the visions of my head on my bed: I saw, and behold, a tree in the middle of the earth; and its height was great.
  • Ps 80:9–11You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land.
  • Song 4:11–15Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
  • Gen 27:27He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed.
  • Matt 13:31He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;
  • Jer 11:16Yahweh called your name, “A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit.” With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.
  • Ezek 17:5–8“‘“He also took some of the seed of the land, and planted it in fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree.
  • 2 Cor 2:14–15Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
  • John 15:1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
  • Rom 11:16–24If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 14:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.

How Hosea 14:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.