1O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2Take 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. 3Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods, for in You the fatherless finds mercy. 4I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him. 5I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall grow as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon. 6His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7They who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent [shall be] as the wine of Lebanon. 8Ephraim [shall 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. 9Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these things? Understanding, and he shall know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them; but sinners shall fall in them.