An Exhortation to Repentance

1Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God; for the people have fallen through thine iniquities.

2Take with you words, and turn to the Lord your God: speak to him, that ye may not receive the reward of unrighteousness, but that ye may receive good things: and we will render in return the fruit of our lips.

3Assur shall never save us; we will not mount on horseback; we will no longer say to the works of our hands, Our gods. He who is in thee shall pity the orphan.

A Promise of God's Blessing

4I will restore their dwellings, I will love them truly: for he has turned away my wrath from him.

5I will be as dew to Israel: he shall bloom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Libanus.

6His branches shall spread, and he shall be as a fruitful olive, and his smell shall be as the smell of Libanus.

7They shall return, and dwell under his shadow: they shall live and be satisfied with corn, and he shall flower as a vine: his memorial shall be to Ephraim as the wine of Libanus.

8What has he to do any more with idols? I have afflicted him, and I will strengthen him: I am as a leafy juniper tree. From me is thy fruit found.

9Who is wise, and will understand these things? or prudent, and will know them? for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them: but the ungodly shall fall therein.