1. Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.Your sins have been your downfall!
2. Take words with youand return to the Lord.Say to him:‘Forgive all our sinsand receive us graciously,that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3. Assyria cannot save us;we will not mount war-horses.We will never again say “Our gods”to what our own hands have made,for in you the fatherless find compassion.’
4. ‘I will heal their waywardnessand love them freely,for my anger has turned away from them.
5. I will be like the dew to Israel;he will blossom like a lily.Like a cedar of Lebanonhe will send down his roots;
6. his young shoots will grow.His splendour will be like an olive tree,his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.