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1Ephraim chases the wind[#12:1 Or grazes on , or tends; #12:1 Jr 22:22; Hs 4:19]
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,[#12:3 Gn 25:26; 27:36]
and as an adult he wrestled with God.
4Jacob struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favour.
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.[#12:6 Hs 6:1–3; 10:12]
Maintain love and justice,
and always put your hope in God.
7A merchant loves to extort[#12:7 Hs 7:14]
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! ’
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[#12:10 Jr 7:25]
and grant many visions;
I will give parables through the prophets.
11Since Gilead is full of evil,[#12:11 Hs 6:8]
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.
12Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.[#12:12 Gn 28:5]
Israel worked to earn a wife;
he tended flocks for a wife.
13The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,[#12:13 Ex 14:19–22; Is 63:11–14]
and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,[#12:14 2Kg 17:7–18]
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
and repay him for his contempt.