| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Israel, return to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. | 1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sins have brought you down. |
| 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. | 2Bring your confessions, and return to the LORD. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. |
| 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, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.” |
| 4I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him. | 4The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. |
| 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 to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. |
| 6His new branches will spread, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon. | 6Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars 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. | 7My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines 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. | 8“O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit 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. | 9Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the LORD are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall. |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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