A Plea to Return to the Lord

1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

2Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept what is good,

and we will pay with bulls

the vows of our lips.

3Assyria shall not save us;

we will not ride on horses;

and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

In you the orphan finds mercy.”

4I will heal their apostasy;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

5I will be like the dew to Israel;

he shall blossom like the lily;

he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;

6his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

7They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;

they shall flourish like the grain;

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.

I am like an evergreen cypress;

from me comes your fruit.

9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.