1 O Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity.2 Take with you{+} words, and return to Yahweh: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so we will render [as] bullocks [the offering of] our lips.3 Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses; neither will we say anymore to the work of our hands, [You{+} are] our gods; for in you the fatherless finds mercy.4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he will blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.6 His branches will spread, and his beauty will be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.7 Those who dwell under his shadow will return; they will revive the grain, and blossom as the vine: his scent will be as the wine of Lebanon.8 Ephraim [will say], What have I to do anymore with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is your fruit found.9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the just will walk in them; but transgressors will fall in them.