Chapter 14

¹Israel, return to Yahweh your God;

For you have fallen because of your sin.

²Take words with you, and return to Yahweh.

Tell him, “Forgive all our sins,

And accept that which is good:

So we offer our lips like bulls.

³Assyria can’t save us.

We won’t ride on horses;

Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’

For in you the fatherless finds mercy.”

⁴“I will heal their waywardness.

I will love them freely;

For my anger is turned away from him.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel.

He will blossom like the lily,

And send down his roots like Lebanon.

⁶His branches will spread,

And his beauty will be like the olive tree,

And his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁷Men will dwell in his shade.

They will revive like the grain,

And blossom like the vine.

Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols?

I answer, and will take care of him.

I am like a green fir tree;

From me your fruit is found.”

⁹Who is wise, that he may understand these things?

Who is prudent, that he may know them?

For the ways of Yahweh are right,

And the righteous walk in them;

But the rebellious stumble in them.