1 O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity.

2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously, that we may repay [with] the calves of our lips.

3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods, for in You the fatherless finds mercy.

4 I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him.

5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall grow as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon.

6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7 They who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent [shall be] as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim [shall say], What [have] I to do any more with idols? I have heard [him] and watched him; I [am] like a green fir tree. Your fruit is found from Me.

9 Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these things? Understanding, and he shall know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them; but sinners shall fall in them.