1 O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

2 Take words with you and return to Jehovah. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity and receive us with grace, that we may repay with the calves of our lips.

3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. We shall not say any more to the work of our hands, You are 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 blossom as the lily and thrust forth his roots like Lebanon.

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

7 They who live under his shadow shall return; they shall live like the grain, and blossom like the vine; their remembrance shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard and observed him. I am as a green cypress tree; your fruit is found in Me.

9 Who is wise and discerns these things? Who is discerning and knows them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the righteous shall walk in them; but transgressors shall stumble in them.