1
Ephraim tries to herd the wind, chasing after the east wind all day long. Their lies and violence keep on increasing. They make a treaty with Assyria, and send olive oil to Egypt.*
2
The Lord also has an accusation against Judah, and will punish Jacob for the way the people act; he will repay them for what they have done.
3
Even in the womb he fought with his brother;* when he became a man he fought with God.
4
He fought with the angel, and he won. He wept, and begged him for a blessing. Jacob found God at Bethel, and spoke with him there—
5
the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his memorable name!
6
You must return to your God. Act lovingly and do what is right, and always wait for your God.
7
A merchant who holds in his hands dishonest scales loves to swindle.
8
Ephraim says, “I'm rich! I've made myself wealthy! I've made so much from my work, and nobody can prove me guilty of doing wrong.”
9
But I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I will make you live again in tents like you do at the time of that particular festival.*
10
I spoke through the prophets. I myself gave many visions and parables through the prophets.
11
If Gilead is idolatrous,* they will surely come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Even their altars are like heaps of rocks in the furrows of the field.*
12
Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel* worked there to gain a wife, earning a wife by looking after sheep.
13
Through a prophet* the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet they were cared for.*
14
Ephraim has really upset the Lord, and the Lord will let them have the consequences of their bloodshed and pay them back for their contempt.