1 O Yisrael, return unto יהוה your God (Elohim); for you have fallen by your iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to יהוה; say unto Him, “Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.
3 Asshur (Assyria) shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods (elohim)’; for in You the fatherless findeth mercy.’”
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for Mine anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Yisrael; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Efrayim shall say, ‘What have I to do any more with idols?’ I have heard him, and observed him; I am like a green fir tree. From Me is your fruit found.”
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of יהוה are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.