1 Israel, return to the Lord your God,  *

for you have stumbled in your iniquity.  *

2 Take words of repentance with you  *

and return to the  Lord.

Say to him, "Forgive all our iniquity

and accept what is good,

so that we may repay you

with praise  * from our  *  lips.  *

3 Assyria 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."  *

4 I will heal their apostasy;  *

I will freely love them,  *

for my anger will have turned from him.  *

5 I will be like the dew to Israel;  *

he will blossom like the lily  *

and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.  *

6 His new branches will spread,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,  *

his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.  *

7 The 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.

8 Ephraim, 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.  *

9 Let 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.  *