| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. | 1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sin has been your downfall! |
| 2Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. | 2Return to the LORD and repent! Say to him: "Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. |
| 3Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” | 3Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!" |
| 4I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. | 4"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger will turn away from them. |
| 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; | 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, he will send down his roots like a cedar of Lebanon. |
| 6his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. | 6His young shoots will grow; his splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. |
| 7They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. | 7People will reside again in his shade; they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. They will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon. |
| 8O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. | 8O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do with idols anymore! I will answer him and care for him. I am like a luxuriant cypress tree; your fruitfulness comes from me! |
| 9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. | 9Who is wise? Let him discern these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the LORD are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble. |
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