¹O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. ²Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips. ³Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Thou art our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

⁴I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. ⁵I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. ⁶His shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. ⁷They shall return and sit under his shadow; they shall revive as corn, and blossom as the vine: the renown thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer him, and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree. —From me is thy fruit found. ⁹Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? intelligent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.

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