¹ O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

² Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render [as] bullocks [the offering of] our lips.

³ Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, [Ye are] our gods; for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

⁴ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.

⁵ I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

⁶ His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

⁷ They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive [as] the grain, and blossom as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ Ephraim [shall say], What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is thy fruit found.

⁹ Who is wise, that he may understand these things? prudent, that he may know them? for the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.

¹ Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

² After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him.

³ And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.

⁴ O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away.

⁵ Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are [as] the light that goeth forth.

⁶ For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

⁷ But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

⁸ Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is stained with blood.

⁹ And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness.

¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is [found] in Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

¹¹ Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for thee, when I bring back the captivity of my people.