Read the Bible

^1 (a)Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for ^(b)you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
² Take with you words
    and return to the Lord;
say to him,
    "Take away all iniquity;
accept ^(c)what is good,
    and we will pay with bulls
    ^(d)the vows^[a] of our lips.
^3 (e)Assyria shall not save us;
    ^(f)we will not ride on horses;
and ^(g)we will say no more, ‘Our God,'
    to the work of our hands.
^(h)In you the orphan finds mercy."

⁴ I ⁽ⁱ⁾will heal their apostasy;
    ^(j)I will love them freely,
    for my anger has turned from them.
^5 (k)I will be like the dew to Israel;
    ^(l)he shall blossom like the lily;
    he shall take root like the trees ^(m)of Lebanon;
⁶ his shoots shall spread out;
    his beauty shall be ⁽ⁿ⁾like the olive,
    and his fragrance like Lebanon.
⁷ They shall return and ^(o)dwell beneath my^[b] shadow;
    they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
    their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ O ^(p)Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.^[c]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    ^(q)from me comes your fruit.

^9 (r)Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
    and ^(s)the upright walk in them,
    ^(t)but transgressors stumble in them.