1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you wordsand return to the Lord;say to him,“Take away all iniquity;accept what is good,and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses;and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely,for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily;he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out;his beauty shall be like the olive,and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;they shall flourish like the grain;they shall blossom like the vine;their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?It is I who answer and look after you.I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;whoever is discerning, let him know them;for the ways of the Lord are right,and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.