Israel, return to Yahweh your God; For you have fallen because of your sin.
"Thou hast fallen ..." is translated "stumbled" in some versions, leaving the impression from the way the word is used in current English that only a momentary slip, a near-mishap, occurred; but as Keating pointed out, "To stumble in the Bible means to `come to utter disaster.'"[5]  "These verses  (Hosea 14:1-3) appeal for repentance."[6]  Therefore, the Messianic kingdom is projected by this.  The great mark of the emergence of the gospel age lay in this very thing.  The Great Herald, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, cried, "Repent ye for the kingdom of God is at hand"  (Matthew 3); the first sermon Jesus ever preached was, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14); and the first sermon of the gospel age found the apostle Peter commanding the people in the name of Christ to "Repent and be baptized, etc."  (Acts 2:38).  Thus, the very outset of this chapter is a signal that the New Israel is the one in focus here.  Myers also agreed that  Hosea 14:1 in this place is "a simple and unqualified demand for repentance."[7]