| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New International Version |
| 1Israel, return to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. | 1Return, Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! |
| 2Take words of repentance with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him: "Forgive all our sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips. | 2Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. |
| 3Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, 'Our gods!' to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You." | 3Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion." |
| 4I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him. | 4"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. |
| 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon. | 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; |
| 6His new branches will spread, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon. | 6his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. |
| 7The people will return and live beneath his shade. They will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon. | 7People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine-- Israel's fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. |
| 8Ephraim, why should I have anything more to do with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing pine tree; your fruit comes from Me. | 8Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me." |
| 9Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. | 9Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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