God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs
1 Ephraim chasesthe 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.
2 TheLordalso has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;
He will repay him based on his actions.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,
and as an adult he wrestled with God.
4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor.
He found himat Bethel,
and there He spoke with him.
5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts;
Yahweh is His name.
6 But you must return to your God.
Maintain love and justice,
and always put your hope in God.
7 A merchant loves to extort
with dishonest scales in his hands.
8 But Ephraim says:
“How rich I have become;
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me
that I can be punished for! ”
Judgment on Apostate Israel
9 I have been Yahweh your God
ever sincethe land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the festival days.
10 I spoke through the prophets
and granted many visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.
11 Since Gilead is full of evil,
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;
even their altars will be like heaps of rocks
on the furrows of a field.
Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram.
Israel worked to earn a wife;
he tended flocks for a wife.
13 TheLordbrought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,
and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
and repay him for his contempt.
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