A Plea to Return to the Lord

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

for oyou have stumbled because of your iniquity.

²Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept pwhat is good,

and we will pay with bulls

qthe vows1 of our lips.

³rAssyria shall not save us;

swe will not ride on horses;

and twe will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

uIn you the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I vwill heal their apostasy;

wI will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

⁵xI will be like the dew to Israel;

yhe shall blossom like the lily;

he shall take root like the trees zof Lebanon;

⁶his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be alike the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁷They shall return and bdwell beneath my2 shadow;

they shall flourish like the grain;

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

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

It is I who answer and look after you.3

I am like an evergreen cypress;

dfrom me comes your fruit.

⁹eWhoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and fthe upright walk in them,

fbut transgressors stumble in them.