1Return, Isra'el, to ADONAI your God, for your guilt has made you stumble.
2Take words with you, and return to ADONAI; say to him, "Forgive all guilt, and accept what is good; we will pay instead of bulls [the offerings of] our lips.
3Ashur will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer call what we made with our hands our gods. For it is only in you that the fatherless can find mercy."
4"I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them freely; for my anger has turned from him.
5I will be like dew to Isra'el; he will blossom like a lily and strike roots like the L'vanon.
6His branches will spread out, his beauty be like an olive tree and his fragrance like the L'vanon.
7Again they will live in his shade and raise grain; they will blossom like a vine, and its aroma will be like the wine of the L'vanon.
8Efrayim [will say], 'What have I to do any more with idols?' And I, I answer and affirm him; I am like a fresh, green cypress tree; your fruitfulness comes from me."
9Let the wise understand these things, and let the discerning know them. For the ways of ADONAI are straight, And the righteous walk in them, but in them sinners stumble.