²² “Return, you backsliding children,
And I will ^(A)heal your backslidings.”

“Indeed we do come to You,
For You are the Lord our God.

⁴ “I will heal their ^(A)backsliding,
I will ^(B)love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
⁵ I will be like the ^(C)dew to Israel;
He shall ^[a]grow like the lily,
And ^[b]lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
⁶ His branches shall ^[c]spread;
^(D)His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And ^(E)his fragrance like Lebanon.
^7 (F)Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And ^[d]grow like a vine.
Their ^[e]scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
^(G)Your fruit is found in Me.”

³ The Lord has appeared ^[a]of old to me, saying:
“Yes, ^(A)I have loved you with ^(B)an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have ^(C)drawn you.

¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself:
‘You have ^(A)chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained bull;
^(B)Restore me, and I will return,
For You are the Lord my God.
¹⁹ Surely, ^(C)after my turning, I repented;
And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;
I was ^(D)ashamed, yes, even humiliated,
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
²⁰ Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For though I spoke against him,
I earnestly remember him still;
^(E)Therefore My ^[a]heart yearns for him;
^(F)I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.