¹Return Israel, to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled in your iniquity.

²Take with you words,

And return to the Lord,

And say to him,

“Take away all our iniquity,

Receive us favourably,

And we will repay with the calves of our lips.

³Assyria will not save us;

Let us not ride on horses,

And let us no longer say, ‘Our gods’ to the work of our hands.

Let it be that through you

The orphan receives compassion.”

⁴“I will heal their apostasy,

I will love them freely,

For my anger will have turned from him.

⁵I will be like dew to Israel,

And he will flourish like a lily,

And he will strike root

As trees do in Lebanon.

⁶His shoots will spread,

And his splendour will be like an olive tree,

And he will have a scent

As aromatic trees do in Lebanon.

⁷And they who dwell in his shadow will return,

And they will revive like corn

And flourish like the vine.

Their memorial will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim will say,

‘What have I to do with idols any more?’

And I will answer and regard him.

I will be like a green cypress;

And from me your fruit will be found.

⁹Let him who is wise understand these things,

And let him who is intelligent know them,

For the ways of the Lord are upright,

And the righteous will walk in them,

But the transgressors will stumble in them.”