“Ephraim, I will have nothing more to do with idols. I am the one who answers your prayers and watches over you. I am like a fir tree that is always green. Your fruit comes from me.”
Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same.
So he left and went to his father. “While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt sorry for him. So he ran to him and hugged and kissed him.
Large cypress trees will grow where there were thornbushes. Myrtle trees will grow where there were weeds. All this will happen to make the Lord known, to be a permanent reminder of his goodness and power.”
People everywhere are already telling the story about the good way you accepted us when we were there with you. They tell about how you stopped worshiping idols and changed to serve the living and true God.
All the great things of Lebanon will be given to you. People will bring pine trees, fir trees, and cypress trees to you. These trees will be used for lumber to make my Holy Place more beautiful. This place is like a stool in front of my throne, and I will honor it.
I myself will plant it on a high mountain in Israel. That branch will grow into a tree. It will grow branches and make fruit and become a beautiful cedar tree. Many birds will sit on its branches and live in the shadows under its branches.