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Healing for the Repentant

14 [a]Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for your sins have brought you down.
Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.
    Say to him,
“Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,
    so that we may offer you our praises.[b]
Assyria cannot save us,
    nor can our warhorses.
Never again will we say to the idols we have made,
    ‘You are our gods.’
No, in you alone
    do the orphans find mercy.”

The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
    my love will know no bounds,
    for my anger will be gone forever.
I will be to Israel
    like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
    it will send roots deep into the soil
    like the cedars in Lebanon.
Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
    as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
My people will again live under my shade.
    They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.
    They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

“O Israel,[c] stay away from idols!
    I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
    all your fruit comes from me.”

Let those who are wise understand these things.
    Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the Lord are true and right,
    and righteous people live by walking in them.
    But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.

Footnotes

  1. 14:1 Verses 14:1-9 are numbered 14:2-10 in Hebrew text.
  2. 14:2 As in Greek and Syriac versions, which read may repay the fruit of our lips; Hebrew reads may repay the bulls of our lips.
  3. 14:8 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.

A Plea to Repent

14 Israel, return to the Lord your God,(A)
for you have stumbled in your iniquity.(B)
Take words of repentance with you(C)
and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay you
with praise[a] from our[b] lips.(D)
Assyria will not save us,(E)
we will not ride on horses,(F)
and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’ (G)
to the work of our hands.(H)
For the fatherless receives compassion in you.”(I)

A Promise of Restoration

I will heal their apostasy;(J)
I will freely love them,(K)
for my anger will have turned from him.(L)
I will be like the dew to Israel;(M)
he will blossom like the lily(N)
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.(O)
His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,(P)
his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.(Q)
The people will return and live beneath his shade.(R)
They will grow grain(S)
and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

Ephraim, why should I[c] have anything more
to do with idols?(T)
It is I who answer and watch over him.
I am like a flourishing pine tree;(U)
your fruit comes from me.(V)

Let whoever is wise(W) understand these things,
and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,(X)
and the righteous walk in them,(Y)
but the rebellious stumble in them.(Z)

Footnotes

  1. 14:2 LXX reads with the fruit
  2. 14:2 Lit repay the bulls of our
  3. 14:8 LXX reads he