Return to Yahweh

14 Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel,

• for you have stumbled because of your sin.
  • 2 Take words with you, and return to Yahweh.
• Say to him,
  • “Take away all guilt;
• accept good, and we will offer
  • the fruit[fn] of our lips.
  • 3 Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses,[fn]
• and we will say no more, “Our God,”
  • to the work of our hands
  • because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.
  • 4 I will heal their disloyalty;[fn] I will love them freely
  • because my anger has turned back
    • from them.[fn]
  • 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily plant,
• and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon.
• 6 His new plant shoots will spread out; his splendor will be like the olive tree,
  • and his scent like the trees of Lebanon.
  • 7 They will again dwell[fn] in my[fn] shadow; they will grow grain
• and they will blossom like the plant vine;
  • his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
  • 8 O Ephraim, what have I to do[fn] with idols? I myself have answered and looked after you.[fn]
• I am like a luxuriant cypress;
  • your fruit[fn] comes from me.
  • 9 Who is wise that he can understand these things? Who is discerning that he knows them?
• The ways of Yahweh are right,
  • and the righteous walk in them;
    • but transgressors stumble in them.