1 O Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity.

2 Take with you{+} words, and return to Yahweh: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so we will render [as] bullocks [the offering of] our lips.

3 Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses; neither will we say anymore to the work of our hands, [You{+} are] our gods; for in you the fatherless finds mercy.

4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he will blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

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

7 Those who dwell under his shadow will return; they will revive the grain, and blossom as the vine: his scent will be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim [will say], What have I to do anymore with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is your fruit found.

9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the just will walk in them; but transgressors will fall in them.