1 (14:2) Return, O Israel, even unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast stumbled through thy iniquity.

2 (14:3) Take with you swords, and return to the Lord: say unto him, "Pardon all our iniquity, and accept our return to good; and let us repay the steers of sacrifice with the prayer of our lips.

3 (14:4) Asshur shall not help us; upon horses will we not ride: and we will no more say, Ye are our gods, to the work of our hands; for in thee alone the fatherless obtaineth mercy."

4 (14:5) I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from them.

5 (14:6) I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall bloom as the lily; and he shall strike his roots as the forests of Lebanon.

6 (14:7) His suckers shall spread out, and his beauty shall be as that of the olive–tree, and his smell as that of the Lebanon.

7 (14:8) They shall return that sat under his shade; they shall revive as corn, and bloom as the vine: the scent of which shall be as that of the wine of Lebanon.

8 (14:9) Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will observe him; I will be to him like a green fir–tree; through me is thy fruit found.

9 (14:10) Who is wise, that he may understand these things? intelligent, that he may know them? for righteous are the ways of the Lord; and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors will stumble through them.