A Plea to Repent
1Israel, return to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled in your iniquity.
2Take 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.
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.”
A Promise of Restoration
4I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
for my anger will have turned from him.
5I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
6His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,
his fragrance, like the forest 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.
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.
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.