¹ Samaria will pay the penalty for having rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their little children will be dashed to pieces and their pregnant women disembowelled.

² Israel, come back to Yahweh your God your guilt was the cause of your downfall.

³ Provide yourself with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to him, 'Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips.

⁴ Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, "Our God!" to our own handiwork, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.'

⁵ I shall cure them of their disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned away from them.

⁶ I shall fall like dew on Israel, he will bloom like the lily and thrust out roots like the cedar of Lebanon;

⁷ he will put out new shoots, he will have the beauty of the olive tree and the fragrance of Lebanon.

⁸ They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow wheat again, they will make the vine flourish, their wine will be as famous as Lebanon's.

⁹ What has Ephraim to do with idols any more when I hear him and watch over him? I am like an evergreen cypress, you owe your fruitfulness to me.

¹⁰ Let the wise understand these words, let the intelligent grasp their meaning, for Yahweh's ways are straight and the upright will walk in them, but sinners will stumble.