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1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,[#Hos 10.12; 12.6; Joel 2.13]
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2Take words with you[#Mic 7.18, 19; Heb 13.15]
and return to the Lord ;
say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
3Assyria shall not save us;[#Ps 10.14; Isa 31.1; Hos 5.13; 8.6; 13.2]
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
4I will heal their disloyalty;[#Isa 12.1; Zeph 3.17]
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5I will be like the dew to Israel;[#Job 29.19; Isa 35.2; Mt 6.28]
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.
6His shoots shall spread out;[#Ps 52.8; Song 4.11]
his beauty shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7They shall again live beneath my shadow;[#Ps 91.4; Ezek 17.23; Hos 2.21, 22; #14.7 Heb his]
they shall flourish as a garden;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?[#v 3 ; Isa 41.19; Ezek 17.23; #14.8 Or What more has Ephraim]
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your fruit comes from me.
9Those who are wise understand these things;[#Ps 107.43; Isa 1.28; 26.7; Acts 13.10]
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.