1   Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel,

    for you have stumbled because of your sin.

2   Take words with you,

    and return to Yahweh.

  Say to him,

    “Take away all guilt;

  accept good, and we will offer

    the fruit of our lips.

3   Assyria will not save us;

    we will not ride on horses,

  and we will say no more, “Our God,”

    to the work of our hands

    because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.

4   I will heal their disloyalty;

    I will love them freely

    because my anger has turned back

      from them.

5   I will be like the dew to Israel;

    he will blossom like the lily plant,

  and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon.

6     His new plant shoots will spread out;

  his splendor will be like the olive tree,

    and his scent like the trees of Lebanon.

7   They will again dwell in my shadow;

    they will grow grain

  and they will blossom like the plant vine;

    his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

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

    I myself have answered and looked after you.

  I am like a luxuriant cypress;

    your fruit comes from me.

9   Who is wise that he can understand these things?

    Who is discerning that he knows them?

  The ways of Yahweh are right,

    and the righteous walk in them;

      but transgressors stumble in them.