instead to submit themselves to the Lord’s words and statutes. Thus, verses 3–6a form a unified argument to urge the people to return to the Lord. Return is the key word of this opening passage, being used four times in only four verses. The Lord’s faithfulness had not changed. His promises, though seemingly dormant, were not dead. Even though there were reasons for discouragement all around the people, there was a world of hope lying before them. And the doorway into that world was repentance. But