Repentance and Restoration

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

2Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we offer the sacrifices 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, you are our gods: for in you the fatherless finds mercy.

4I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger has turned away from him.

5I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

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

7They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and grow as 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 observed him: I am like a green cypress tree. In me is your fruit found.

9Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall stumble in them.