Halakha Hosea 14:2: Mishneh Torah, Repentance, Mishneh Torah, Prayer and the Priestly Blessing, Abudarham & Sefer Chasidim

Great, indeed, is repentance for it brings man nigh to the Shekinah, even as it is said: "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God" (Hosea, 14. 2); and it is further said: "Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord" (Amos, 4.6); and it is yet again said: "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, yea, return unto Me" (Jer. 4.1), as if saying: "If thou wilt turn in repentance ye will cleave unto Me". Repentance brings near the far apart. But yesterday this sinner was hateful to the presence of God, scorned, ostracized and abominate, and to-day he is beloved, desirable, companionable and a friend. Thou findest, moreover, that in the very language God employs to distance the sinners He employs to bring nigh unto Him the penitent whether the individual or the many, even as it is said: "And it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said unto them, 'Ye are not My people', it shall be said unto them: 'Ye are the children of the living God'. And, again it is said of Jeconiah: "Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days, (Jer. 22.30) though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon My right hand yet would I pluck thee thence" (Ibid. – 24); but when he repented, being in exile, it is said of his son Zerubbabel: "In that day, saith the lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet" (Haggai, 2.23).⁴Coniah, Jehoiachin, Joiachin, Jeconiah and Jeconiahi are all one and the same king, who in 11. Chr. 36.9 is said to have been eight years old when he ascended the throne of David, and reigned three years and ten days, and in Second Kings, 24.8, is said to have been eighteen years old, and reigned three years. He was the grandfather of Zerubbabel, and was a prisoner thirty-seven years. However, in First Chr. 3.19, it is said that Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah, brother of Shealtiel. Maimonides, evidently did not accept this version. G.

The people have the custom of reading on the three Sabbaths before the Ninth of Ab, as lessons from the Prophets, passages of an admonitory character. On the first of these Sabbaths, the lesson from the Prophets is the section beginning, "The words of Jeremiah" (Jeremiah 1:1-2:3). On the second Sabbath, that beginning, "The vision of Isaiah" (Isaiah 1:1-20). On the third Sabbath, that beginning, "How is the faithful city become a harlot" (ibid. 1:21-2:4).^*Ashkenazi custom is to read respectively on these Sabbaths before the Ninth of Ab, Jeremiah 1:1-2:3, 2:4-28 and Isaiah 1:1-27. On the Sabbath after the Ninth of Ab, the lesson from the Prophets is the section beginning, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people" (Isaiah 40:1-26). It is the general custom in our city to read comforting messages from Isaiah as the lessons from the Prophets on the Sabbaths after the Ninth of Ab till the New Year. On the Sabbath between the New Year and the Day of Atonement, the lesson from the Prophets is the section beginning "Return O Israel" (Hosea 14:2-10).

Ha'azinu after Yom Kippur: Shuva Yisrael, Hosea 14:2–10, ending with Micah 7:18–20. And if you would say "what benefit is repentance after Yom Kippur?" one can respond in the name of what R. Yitzḥaq said: crying out is good for a person both before the judgment and after it. (Rosh haShanah 16a:13).