God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs
1Ephraim chases the wind
and pursues the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.
2The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his conduct;
he will repay him based on his actions.
3In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,
and as an adult he wrestled with God.
4Jacob struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
He found him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him.
5The Lord is the God of Armies;
the Lord is his name.
6But you must return to your God.
Maintain love and justice,
and always put your hope in God.
7A merchant loves to extort
with dishonest scales in his hands.
8But Ephraim thinks,
“How rich I have become;
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any iniquity in me
that I can be punished for!”
Judgment on Apostate Israel
9I have been the Lord your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the festival days.
10I will speak through the prophets
and grant many visions;
I will give parables through the prophets.
11Since Gilead is full of evil,
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;
even their altars will be like piles of rocks
on the furrows of a field.
Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs
12Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.
Israel worked to earn a wife;
he tended flocks for a wife.
13The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,
and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
and repay him for his contempt.