Verse 1

Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sin has been your downfall!

Referenced Verses

  • Hos 6:1 : 1 Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness“Come on! Let’s return to the LORD! He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds!
  • Hos 12:6 : 6 But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.
  • Hos 13:9 : 9 Israel’s King Unable to Deliver the Nation I will destroy you, O Israel! Who is there to help you?
  • 2 Chr 30:6-9 : 6 Messengers delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah. This royal edict read:“O Israelites, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria. 7 Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the LORD God of their ancestors, provoking him to destroy them, as you can see. 8 Now, don’t be stubborn like your fathers! Submit to the LORD and come to his sanctuary which he has permanently consecrated. Serve the LORD your God so that he might relent from his raging anger. 9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will be shown mercy by their captors and return to this land. The LORD your God is merciful and compassionate; he will not reject you if you return to him.”
  • Isa 55:6-7 : 6 Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the LORD, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
  • Jer 2:19 : 19 Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful it was for you to reject me, the LORD your God, to show no respect for me,” says the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
  • Jer 3:12-14 : 12 The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them,‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the LORD.‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD.‘I will not be angry with you forever. 13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the LORD. 14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the LORD,“for I am your true master. If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.
  • Jer 4:1 : 1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the LORD,“if you want to come back to me, you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight and must no longer go astray.
  • Lam 5:16 : 16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
  • Ezek 28:14-16 : 14 I placed you there with an anointed guardian cherub; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked about amidst fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your behavior from the day you were created, until sin was discovered in you. 16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned; so I defiled you and banished you from the mountain of God– the guardian cherub expelled you from the midst of the stones of fire.
  • Hos 5:5 : 5 The arrogance of Israel testifies against it; Israel and Ephraim will be overthrown because of their iniquity. Even Judah will be brought down with them.
  • Joel 2:12-13 : 12 An Appeal for Repentance“Yet even now,” the LORD says,“return to me with all your heart– with fasting, weeping, and mourning. 13 Tear your hearts, not just your garments!” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love– often relenting from calamitous punishment.
  • Zech 1:3-4 : 3 Therefore say to the people: The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,“Turn to me,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“and I will turn to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 4 “Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying,‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said,“Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the LORD.
  • Acts 26:18-20 : 18 to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.
  • 1 Sam 7:3-4 : 3 Samuel said to all the people of Israel,“If you are really turning to the LORD with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. Give your hearts to the LORD and serve only him. Then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the LORD.