Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. 

       Your sins have been your downfall!

 2 Take words with you
       and return to the LORD.
       Say to him:
       "Forgive all our sins
       and receive us graciously,
       that we may offer the fruit of our lips.

 3 Assyria cannot save us;
       we will not mount war-horses.
       We will never again say ‘Our gods’
       to what our own hands have made,
       for in you the fatherless find compassion."

 4 "I will heal their waywardness
       and love them freely,
       for my anger has turned away from them.

 5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
       he will blossom like a lily.
       Like a cedar of Lebanon
       he will send down his roots;

 6 his young shoots will grow.
       His splendor will be like an olive tree,
       his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

 7 Men will dwell again in his shade.
       He will flourish like the grain.
       He will blossom like a vine,
       and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

 8 O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
       I will answer him and care for him.
       I am like a green pine tree;
       your fruitfulness comes from me."

 9 Who is wise? He will realize these things.
       Who is discerning? He will understand them.
       The ways of the LORD are right;
       the righteous walk in them,
       but the rebellious stumble in them.