 1 O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2 Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the calves of our lips. 3 Assyria will not save us. We will not ride on horses. Nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods, for in you the fatherless finds mercy. 4 I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely. For my anger has turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew to Israel. He will grow as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon. 6 His branches will spread, and his beauty will be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 Those who live under his shadow will return. They will revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent will be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim will say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and watched him; I am like a green fir tree. Your fruit is found from me. 9 Who is wise and will understand these things? Understanding, and he will know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just will walk in them. But sinners will fall in them.
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