¹Shomron will bear her guilt,

for she has rebelled against her God.

They will fall by the sword,

their little ones will be dashed to pieces

and their pregnant women ripped open.

²Return, Isra’el, to Adonai your God,

for your guilt has made you stumble.

³Take words with you, and return to Adonai ;

say to him, “Forgive all guilt,

and accept what is good;

we will pay instead of bulls

[the offerings of] our lips.

⁴Ashur will not save us,

we will not ride on horses,

and we will no longer call

what we made with our hands our gods.

For it is only in you

that the fatherless can find mercy.”

⁵“I will heal their disloyalty,

I will love them freely;

for my anger has turned from him.

⁶I will be like dew to Isra’el;

he will blossom like a lily

and strike roots like the L’vanon.

⁷His branches will spread out,

his beauty be like an olive tree

and his fragrance like the L’vanon.

⁸Again they will live in his shade and raise grain;

they will blossom like a vine,

and its aroma will be

like the wine of the L’vanon.

⁹Efrayim [will say], ‘What have I

to do any more with idols?’

And I, I answer and affirm him;

I am like a fresh, green cypress tree;

your fruitfulness comes from me.”

¹⁰Let the wise understand these things,

and let the discerning know them.

For the ways of Adonai are straight,

And the righteous walk in them,

but in them sinners stumble.