A Call to Repentance
1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
2Bring your confessions
and return to the LORD.
Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity
and receive us graciously,
that we may present
the fruit of our lips.LXX and Syriac; Hebrew that we may present our lips as sacrificial bulls
3Assyria will not save us,
nor will we ride on horses.
We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’
to the work of our own hands.
For in You the fatherless find compassion.”
A Promise of God’s Blessing
4I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
for My anger has turned away from them.
5I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
6His shoots will sprout,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,
his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7They will return and dwell in his shade;
they will grow grain and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8O Ephraim,That is, the northern kingdom of Israel what have I to do
anymore with idols?
It is I who answer and watch over him.
I am like a flourishing cypress;Or pine or juniper or fir
your fruit comes from Me.
9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right,
and the righteous walk in them
but the rebellious stumble in them.