1O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have fallen because of your iniquity.

2Take with you words, and return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all our iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the sacrifices of our lips.

3Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods'--for in You the fatherless finds mercy."

4"I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him.

5I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon.

6His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8Ephraim shall say, 'What have I to do any more with idols?' I have heard him and watched him; I am like a leafy cypress tree. Your fruit is found from Me."

9Who is wise? He shall understand these things. Who has understanding? He shall know them, for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall in them.