| New Living Translation | New International Version |
| 1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sins have brought you down. | 1Return, Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! |
| 2Bring 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. | 2Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. |
| 3Assyria 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.” | 3Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion." |
| 4The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. | 4"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. |
| 5I 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. | 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; |
| 6Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. | 6his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. |
| 7My 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. | 7People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine-- Israel's fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. |
| 8“O Israel, 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.” | 8Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me." |
| 9Let 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. | 9Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
|
    |