God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs
12 Ephraim chases[a] the wind(A)
and pursues the east wind.(B)
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,(C)
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.(D)
2 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his conduct;(E)
he will repay him based on his actions.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,(F)
and as an adult he wrestled with God.(G)
4 Jacob struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.(H)
He found him at Bethel,(I)
and there he spoke with him.[b](J)
5 The Lord is the God of Armies;
the Lord is his name.(K)
6 But you must return to your God.(L)
Maintain love and justice,(M)
and always put your hope in God.(N)
7 A merchant loves to extort(O)
with dishonest scales in his hands.(P)
8 But Ephraim thinks,
“How rich I have become;(Q)
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any iniquity in me(R)
that I can be punished for!” [c]
Judgment on Apostate Israel
9 I have been the Lord your God
ever since[d] the land of Egypt.(S)
I will make you live in tents again,(T)
as in the festival days.
10 I will speak through the prophets(U)
and grant many visions;
I will give parables through the prophets.(V)
11 Since Gilead is full of evil,(W)
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;(X)
even their altars will be like piles of rocks(Y)
on the furrows of a field.
Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs
12 Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.(Z)
Israel worked to earn a wife;(AA)
he tended flocks for a wife.(AB)
13 The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,(AC)
and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,(AD)
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him(AE)
and repay him for his contempt.(AF)
Footnotes
- 12:1 Or grazes on, or tends
- 12:4 LXX, Syr; MT reads us
- 12:8 Lit iniquity which is sin
- 12:9 LXX reads God who brought you out of
Cross references
- 12:1 : Jr 22:22; Hs 4:19
- 12:1 : Gn 41:6; Ezk 17:10
- 12:1 : Hs 5:13; 7:11; 8:9
- 12:1 : 2Kg 17:4
- 12:2 : Hs 4:9; 7:2
- 12:3 : Gn 25:26; 27:36
- 12:3 : Gn 32:24–28
- 12:4 : Gn 32:26
- 12:4 : Gn 28:13–15; 35:10–15
- 12:4 : Gn 28:10–22; 35:1–14
- 12:5 : Ex 3:15
- 12:6 : Hs 6:1–3; 10:12
- 12:6 : Hs 6:6
- 12:6 : Mc 7:7
- 12:7 : Hs 7:14
- 12:7 : Pr 11:1; Am 8:5; Mc 6:11
- 12:8 : Ps 62:10; Hs 13:6
- 12:8 : Hs 4:8; 14:1; Am 3:15; 6:4–6
- 12:9 : Hs 11:1; 13:3
- 12:9 : Lv 23:42
- 12:10 : Jr 7:25
- 12:10 : Ezk 17:2; 20:49
- 12:11 : Hs 6:8
- 12:11 : Hs 4:15; 9:15
- 12:11 : Hs 8:11; 10:1–2
- 12:12 : Gn 28:5
- 12:12 : Gn 29:20
- 12:12 : Gn 29:1–20
- 12:13 : Ex 14:19–22; Is 63:11–14
- 12:14 : 2Kg 17:7–18
- 12:14 : Ezk 18:10–13
- 12:14 : Dn 11:18; Mc 6:16