1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with youand return to the Lord.Say to Him,“Take away all iniquity,and accept that which is good;and we will offer the fruit of our lips!
3 Assyria will not save us,we will not ride on horses.We will no longer say, ‘Our God,’to the work of our hands.In You the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their backsliding;I will love them freely,for My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;he shall grow like the lilyand shall strike his rootslike Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread out,and his beauty shall be like the olive tree,and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7 Those that dwell under his shadow will return,they will flourish like the grainand grow as a vine.Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?It is I who answer and look after him.I am like a green fir tree;your fruit is found in Me.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;whoever prudent, let him know them.For the ways of the Lord are right,and the just will walk in them;but the transgressors stumble in them.