Return to Yahweh

¹ Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel, for you have stumbled because of your sin.

² Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Say to him, “Take away all guilt; accept good, and we will offer the fruit¹ of our lips.

1. Hebrew uncertain

³ Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses,¹ and we will say no more, “Our God,” to the work of our hands because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.

1. Hebrew “horse”

⁴ I will heal their disloyalty;¹ I will love them freely because my anger has turned back from them.²

1. Or “backsliding”
2. Hebrew “him”

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily plant, and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon.

⁶ His new plant shoots will spread out; his splendor will be like the olive tree, and his scent like the trees of Lebanon.

⁷ ⌞They will again dwell⌟¹ in my² shadow; they will grow grain and they will blossom like the plant vine; his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

1. Literally “They shall return, they shall dwell”
2. Hebrew “his”

⁸ O Ephraim, ⌞what have I to do⌟¹ with idols? I myself have answered and looked after you.² I am like a luxuriant cypress; your fruit³ comes from me.

1. Literally “what for me”
2. Hebrew “him”
3. Or “your faithfulness”

⁹ Who is wise that he can understand these things? Who is discerning that he knows them? The ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; but transgressors stumble in them.