1. O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have fallen by your sin.
2. Take words with you and return to Jehovah. Say to Him, Lift up all iniquity and receive us well, 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, 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 cast out his roots like Lebanon.
6. His branches shall go out, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his scent as Lebanon to him.
7. They who live under his shadow shall return; they shall live like the grain, and blossom like the vine; their memorial shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8. Ephraim shall say, What is it to me any more with idols? I answered him, and I regarded him. I am as a green cypress tree; your fruit is found from 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.