1. Israel, return to the Lord your God. Your sins have destroyed you!
2. Tell the Lord you are turning away from your sins. Return to him. Say to him, "Forgive us for all of our sins. Please be kind to us. Welcome us back to you. Then our lips will offer you our praise.
3. Assyria can't save us. We won't trust in our war horses. Our own hands have made statues of gods. But we will never call them our gods again. We are like children whose fathers have died. But you show us your tender love."
4. Then the Lord will answer, "My people always wander away from me. But I will put an end to that. My anger has turned away from them. Now I will love them freely.
5. I will be like the dew to Israel. They will bloom like a lily. They will send their roots down deep like a cedar tree in Lebanon.