12
1 Ephraim feeds
on wind,
and chases the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies
and desolation.
They make
a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is
carried into Egypt.
2 The
LORD also has
a controversy with Judah,
and will punish Jacob according
to his ways;
according to his
deeds he will repay
him.
3 In
the womb he took
his brother by
the heel,
and in his manhood
he contended with
God.
4 Indeed, he struggled
with the angel, and prevailed;
he wept, and made supplication to him.
He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us—
5 even the
LORD, the God
of Armies.
The LORD is
his name of renown!
6 Therefore turn
to your God.
Keep kindness and justice,
and wait continually
for your God.
7 A merchant
has dishonest scales in
his hand.
He loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim said, “Surely
I have become rich.
I have found myself wealth.
In all my wealth
they won’t find in
me any iniquity that
is sin.”
9 “But
I am the LORD
your God from
the land of Egypt.
I will yet again
make you dwell in tents,
as in the days
of the solemn feast.
10 I
have also spoken
to the prophets,
and I
have multiplied visions;
and by
the ministry of
the prophets I
have used parables.
11 If Gilead
is wicked,
surely they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls.
Indeed, their altars are
like heaps in
the furrows of
the field.
12 Jacob fled
into the country
of Aram.
Israel served to get
a wife.
For a wife
he tended flocks and herds.
13 By
a prophet the LORD
brought Israel up out
of Egypt,
and by a prophet
he was preserved.
14 Ephraim
has bitterly provoked anger.
Therefore his blood
will be left
on him,
and his Lord
will repay his contempt.