Return to the Lord
1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord : 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: In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord : His going forth is prepared as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto 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 early dew it goeth 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 desired mercy, and not sacrifice; And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: There have they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, And is polluted with blood.
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, So the company of priests murder in the way by consent: For they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: There is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, When I returned the captivity of my people.
