14
1 O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God;
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the Lord:
Say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously:
So will we render the calves of our lips.
3 Asshur shall not save us: we will not ride upon horses:
Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods:
For in thee 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 Israel:
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 sent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim 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 thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
Prudent, and he shall know them?
For the ways of the Lord are right,
And the just shall walk in them:
But the transgressors shall fall therein.