A PLEA TO REPENT

14 Israel, return to the Lord your God,s

for you have stumbled in your iniquity.t

2 Take words of repentance with youu

and return to the Lord.

Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity

and accept what is good,

so that we may repay you

with praiseE from ourF lips.v

3 Assyria will not save us,w

we will not ride on horses,x

and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’y

to the work of our hands.z

For the fatherless receives compassion in you.”aa

A PROMISE OF RESTORATION

4 I will heal their apostasy;ab

I will freely love them,ac

for my anger will have turned from him.ad

5 I will be like the dew to Israel;ae

he will blossom like the lilyaf

and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.ag

6 His new branches will spread,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,ah

his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.ai

7 The people will return and live beneath his shade.aj

They will grow grainak

and blossom like the vine.

His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim, why should IG have anything more

to do with idols?al

It is I who answer and watch over him.

I am like a flourishing pine tree;am

your fruit comes from me.an

9 Let whoever is wiseao understand these things,

and whoever is insightful recognize them.

For the ways of the Lord are right,ap

and the righteous walk in them,aq

but the rebellious stumble in them.ar