A Plea to Return to the Lord
1 ch. 6:1;12:6;[ch. 3:5] Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for [ch. 13:9]you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
"Take away all iniquity;
accept [ch. 5:15] what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
Heb. 13:15;[Ps. 50:13,14;69:30,31]the vows14:2 Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit of our lips.
3 ch. 5:13Assyria shall not save us;
[Isa. 30:16;31:1] we will not ride on horses;
and [ver. 8] we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
See Ps. 10:14In you the orphan finds mercy."
4 I Jer. 3:22;[ch. 6:1] will heal their apostasy;
[ch. 11:1]I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5 [ch. 6:3] I will be like the dew to Israel;
Isa. 27:6he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees [Ps. 92:12;Isa. 35:2]of Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be Ps. 52:8like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and Ps. 91:1dwell beneath my14:7 Hebrew his shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O [ver. 3; Isa. 30:22] Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.14:8 Hebrew him
I am like an evergreen cypress;
[ch. 2:8,23;John 15:4,5]from me comes your fruit.
9 Ps. 107:43;Jer. 9:12;Dan. 12:10;John 8:47;18:37Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and [Prov. 10:29;Luke 2:34;2 Cor. 2:16]the upright walk in them,
[Prov. 10:29;Luke 2:34;2 Cor. 2:16]but transgressors stumble in them.