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Repentance to Bring Blessing

¹ Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!

² Take words with you
and return to the LORD .
Say to him:
"Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips. ^(F41)

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 waywardness
and 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 Lebanon
he will send down his roots;

⁶ his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

⁷ Men will dwell again in his shade.
He will flourish like the grain.
He will blossom like a vine,
and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

⁸ O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a green pine tree;
your fruitfulness comes from me."

⁹ Who is wise? He will realize these things.
Who is discerning? He will understand them.
The ways of the LORD are right;
the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.