1O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity. 2Take words with you and return to Jehovah. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity and receive us with grace, that we may repay with the calves of our lips. 3Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. We shall not say any more to the work of our hands, You are 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 blossom as the lily and thrust forth his roots like Lebanon. 6His branches shall spread out, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his scent as Lebanon. 7They who live under his shadow shall return; they shall live like the grain, and blossom like the vine; their remembrance shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard and observed him. I am as a green cypress tree; your fruit is found in Me. 9Who is wise and discerns these things? Who is discerning and knows them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the righteous shall walk in them; but transgressors shall stumble in them.